Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays...

Falling for Grace DVD Pre-Ordering

The Falling for Grace website has been revamped here and you can now Pre-Order the DVD from there with a chance to win prizes. The price is US$24.98 with US$5 shipping and handling.

This is great news for everyone... but for two things.

Firstly, it appears that there is NO International shipping, as it only gives options for addresses in the US and Canada. So, we overseas fans will have to buy it elsewhere and THAT means no bonuses or chances to win the jeans worn by Gale for us!

The second thing, which is almost worse than the first, is that apparently they are sticking with that god-awful picture of Gale on the cover!!!!

ETA: Just pre-ordered mine from CD Universe for US$24.69, this is £15.84 in real money and includes shipping and handling, but no chance of those jeans! They will ship worldwide.

Silent monks singing Hallelujah!

Missed this last year! It's fabulous...


and there's always time for a repeat of this classic... The Twelve Gays of Christmas!

Calling all Gale Harold fans who have knowledge of Los Angeles...

In the event that a Gale fan from another country - who missed out on the Suddenly Last Summer Gale event in NY a few years back through a set of unfortunate circumstances - was stupid obsessed fanatical mad enough to buy a ticket or tickets for Orpheus Descending and managed to gather together the serious amount of spondulicks necessary for a return flight to LAX.

Is it possible that there is someone out there able to recommend a hotel within walking distance of the Theatre for said out-of-towner? A hotel which, hopefully, alongside being reasonably clean and neither bed-bug nor flea infested, won't add too much to the already straining financial burden and leave a Gale fan just enough to purchase a souvenir programme or two.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)

More on Gale in Orpheus Descending

So, whilst some of us Gale fans who are lucky enough to live in, or near, LA are booking their tickets for Orpheus Descending and getting nearer and nearer to exploding with excitement. The rest of us might just want to think about the play and how we think Gale will handle the part of Valentine Xavier.

Of course, if you are going to see the play and don't know, and don't want to know, what the play is about, you'd better not read any further. For everyone else, here's a description of the character he'll be playing. I'm thrilled that he's got this part and I think that if Gale can relax, this character is absolutely perfect for him!

Valentine Xavier is a wandering singer and musician of about thirty who is described in the stage directions as having a wild beauty about him. He wears a snakeskin jacket, mottled white, black, and gray. In the bars of New Orleans where he sang and lived wildly, he was known simply as Snake-skin. Val always carries a guitar with him, and he describes it as his ‘‘life's companion.’’ Music saves him whenever he gets into a bad situation. The guitar itself is covered with the autographs of famous blues singers. Val is a free spirit who does not fit into conventional society, and it is significant that the Choctaw cry given by the Conjure Man, a cry of wild intensity, coincides with Val's first entrance.

Val was raised in a place called Witches' Bayou, and he claims to have unusual powers of self-control. He can hold his breath for three minutes, stay awake for forty-eight hours, and not urinate for a day. He also claims that his body temperature is two degrees higher than normal, like a dog's. He left Witches' Bayou when he was in his teens and drifted to New Orleans, where he soon found that women were irresistibly drawn to him, but he eventually tired of their attentions and of the dissipated life he was leading.

Val is basically a good-hearted man who has insight into the deeper longings of life. He can sense what others really need and desire, and he knows how to give comfort when it is needed. He himself says that although he has lived among corruption (in New Orleans), he is not corrupted. In Two River County, however, people find his manner sexually suggestive, although he does nothing deliberately to cultivate this impression. However, because he is an artistic spirit who does not fit into the accepted ways of thought and action, and because he allows himself to be drawn into an affair with Lady Torrance, he is hunted down by the men of the town.

Gale in Williams' Orpheus Descending...

What wonderful news! I really, really hope he can make this part his own and nails it on stage. Wish I could get there to see it, but alas that's not to be...

Gale Harold, Denise Crosby, Claudia Mason to Star in Orpheus Descending at Theatre/Theater
By: Dan Bacalzo · Dec 9, 2009 · Los Angeles

Gale Harold, Denise Crosby, and Claudia Mason will head the cast of Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending, to play Theatre/Theater in Los Angeles, January 15-February 21. Lou Pepe will direct.

This modern version of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is set in the American South of repressed desires. The cast will also feature Robert E. Beckwith, Curtis C., Francesca Casale, John Gleeson Connolly, Kelly Ebsary, Andy Forrest, Sheila Shaw and Geoffrey Wade.

Harold, who plays Valentine Xavier, is best known for his role of Brian Kinney on Showtime's Queer as Folk, and his stage credits include Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer for the Roundabout Theatre Company. Crosby, who plays Lady Torrance, received an Ovation nomination for her performance in Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, and her TV work includes the role of Lt. Tasha Yar in Star Trek, The Next Generation. Mason, who plays Carol Cutrere, began her career as a teen model, and her Off Broadway credits include Boxing Day Parade and The Glass Menagerie, while her film and television work includes Celebrity and Outpatient.

Original Source

If anyone not familiar with the play is interested in reading a summary, go here. Obviously there are major spoilers!

Randy - New Advocate Interview

Randy interview in the Advocate. Some rehashed old questions, but overall a really interesting interview, love this! :)

Look out for his answer to one of the last questions about nude pictures of him when playing Alan Strang in Equus! Randy may be upsetting some fans with the way he answers, I'm afraid! I just wish that the lady in question posts a link to this photo now!! Hahahaha!

Anyway take a read:

Randy Does Andy

Queer as Folk’s Randy Harrison discusses his new role as late art legend Andy Warhol in Yale Rep’s POP! and his own status as a reluctant “post-gay” pop icon — plus his secret nude photos and the possibility of a QAF reunion.
By Brandon Voss

When The Advocate last spoke to him for a September 2002 cover story, Randy Harrison had only finished his second of five seasons as gay teen Justin Taylor in Showtime’s groundbreaking drama Queer as Folk but was already planning an exit strategy. “I sort have this image of myself sort of disappearing for a while and reemerging five to 10 years down the road again,” said Harrison, who was at 24 the youngest out actor on television. It’s been more than four years since the controversial series ended, but the stage vet, who made his Broadway debut as Boq in Wicked, has remained very visible in the theater world. Now 32, Harrison is currently creating a portrait of polarizing pop artist-filmmaker Andy Warhol in the Mark Brokaw-helmed world premiere of POP!, a Factory-set musical by Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna K. Jacobs, which runs through December 19 at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Conn. Advocate.com made the most of 15 more minutes with Harrison, who continues to elevate his “post-gay” position on fame, activism, and sexuality to an art form.

Advocate.com: How familiar were you with Warhol and the Factory before you started working on POP! at Yale Rep?
Randy Harrison: More than most. Near the end of college I was really into the Velvet Underground, which sort of brought me to Warhol. This was back when Kim’s video store was still open in the East Village, so I rented a lot of Warhol’s movies from there, like Lonesome Cowboys. I’m fascinated with him. I admire the fact that he just turned out art and created such challenging work, specifically his movies. I also think he’s funny as hell.

Did you study archival footage and old Warhol interviews to prepare for the role?
I did a bit of that, but I ended up having to drop a lot of it to tell the story. A perfect Warhol imitation doesn’t work for creating a convincing musical theater character. A lot of his real mannerisms weren’t useful, and you can’t really project his real voice and keep sounding like Warhol. He spoke in a monotone with almost no inflection and little enunciation in a flat Midwestern accent, which is completely untheatrical. I have to break into song as Warhol and have it be believable.

But since Warhol was an actual living person, do you feel a responsibility to represent him accurately?
Fortunately, this show is such a different context to put Warhol in, so I don’t necessarily feel the same obligation I would if I were doing Warhol in a film. Mine is a very fictionalized Warhol.

POP! doesn’t directly explore Warhol’s sexuality, but many critics over the years have examined the ways his homosexuality shaped his aesthetic and also posed an obstacle for him to overcome in his career. Some of his contemporaries were angered or intimidated by the frankness of his sexuality in his work, but he refused to butch it up for anyone. Do you relate to that aspect of Warhol’s character?
Oh, absolutely. There’s this fascinating book called Pop Out, which is like a queer studies examination of Warhol’s life and career. It’s interesting that Jasper Johns and Bob Rauschenberg were also gay but acted butch, so they wanted nothing to do with Warhol. To me, the most amazing thing about Warhol was that he intentionally played up the “swish” aspect — “swish” being the word that he used — in popism. I have a lot of admiration for that.

When The Advocate interviewed you in 2002, you said that you were scared you might be “perceived as a poster boy for something” because you “never really had any goals of activism.” Considering how much the marriage equality debate has heated up since then, have you found yourself becoming more political?
I always have been political, but I’m political personally and not as a celebrity. I’ll go march in Washington with my friends, but I’m not going to go as Randy Harrison the spokesperson because I’m not comfortable playing that role. But I’m active like any human being should be.

You also told The Advocate, “Besides the fact that I sleep with men, I have very little sense of being part of the community of homosexual people, for whatever reason. I have a group of six friends, two of whom are gay.” Now that you’re in your 30s, do you feel more connected with the gay community? Or, at the very least, have you made more gay friends?
[Laughs] I don’t have any more gay friends! Maybe I feel slightly more connected, but not really. I don’t feel hugely different about it. I’m still not engaged with gay nightlife, but I am a gay person who wants equal rights, so I’m engaged with that. All my friends, straight or gay, are engaged with that.

For a Vanity Fair cover story in 2003 called “Gay-Per-View TV,” you participated in a glamorous photo shoot that featured the major cast members of Queer as Folk, Will & Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, The L Word, and Boy Meets Boy. What was it like to play such a major part in that watershed moment for our mainstream media visibility when you didn’t even feel a part of your community?
For me, it all felt like a fluke. Now, looking back, I can sort of see how that kind of visibility was progress to some extent, but I remember doing that shoot and just wanting it to be over.

Are you serious? In one photo you’re inches away from Megan Mullally and hanging on Thom Filicia while Jennifer Beals is serving face in the corner. That shoot looks like it was a blast.
Really? Oh, my God, no. My memory of it is that it was stressful and nerve-racking. But I have a difficult time with photo shoots period.

Do you wish you could’ve achieved your current marketability in the theater world without actually having to do Queer as Folk?
Not really, because the only reason I’m financially stable is from having worked in television. I’m sure Queer as Folk opened up a lot of doors for me, even if it closed some too, so I’m grateful for it.

Echoing the controversial statements gay directors Todd Holland and Don Roos made earlier this year, Rupert Everett recently advised gay actors to stay in the closet, saying, “The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the ... film business.” As a former 25-year-old homosexual who hasn’t done much film work since Queer as Folk, do you think he’s right?
I’ve never really tried very hard to be a part of the film industry, so I don’t know if he’s right or not. Queer as Folk was a fluke, and then I just went back to theater. I’ve been significantly more satisfied with the work I’ve been doing since Queer as Folk ended. It’s been almost all theater, but that was my mostly my intention, so I’m doing what I always wanted to do.

But do you feel like your coming-out has hindered your career in any way?
I don’t know what decisions are being made behind closed doors in casting sessions or what people think of me, so I don’t know what kind of difference it would’ve made or what kind of career I would have now if I hadn’t come out. I just know that not coming out was something I wasn’t capable of doing. I don’t regret it. The one thing that’s been frustrating for me is that coming out has forced me to have to talk about my private life, which is something that I have no interest talking about in general. I don’t feel like actors should ever be obligated to open up about that. I want to be out because it’s important to me socially and politically, but at the same time I don’t think it’s anybody’s business who I sleep with.

Then it must have been strange when New York magazine put you on the cover of its 2002 “Gay Issue” and labeled you “The Post-Gay Gay Icon.” What did that mean to you?
At the time — and I was feeling this a lot when I was doing Queer as Folk — I was frustrated with how much ghettoizing there was of the gay community: The “us versus them” mentality as far as gays and straights. So I sort of understood the idea of “post-gay” as being beyond labels of sexuality.

A recent Newsweek article claimed that effeminate gay characters on television shows like Glee, Ugly Betty, Entourage, Modern Family, and True Blood might actually be hurting rather than helping the LGBT community. What do you think of the representation of gays on TV today?
I don’t watch all those shows, so I don’t really know who the characters are, but just the fact that they’re out there is important. Maybe adults can’t use them as a political tool in some way, but I know — and this was important to me when I was doing Queer as Folk — that any kind of visibility is a comfort when you’re 14 and living in the middle of nowhere. Now it’s easy to find two boys kissing on TV, so at least you don’t have to go to a weird video store to search for an old Merchant-Ivory movie.

In retrospect, could the substance-abusing, hypersexualized characters on Queer as Folk have done more harm than good in the long run?
Just last night somebody came up to me and was like, “I wouldn’t have gotten through my adolescence if that show hadn’t been on television.” So that good outweighs however obnoxious the show might have potentially gotten.

Do you ever stumble across the edited reruns that currently air on Logo?
No. I wouldn’t watch it. I have a lot of friends that I’ve made since the show who’ve never seen it, and occasionally they’ll say, “Oh, my God, I was watching TV and I saw that show you were on.” They always say, “You were so blond!”

What are the chances of a Queer as Folk reunion special? I’d totally watch A Very Queer as Folksy Christmas.
I’m pretty certain there will never be a reunion, but I do see the cast maybe once a year. I’m in New York and they’re mostly all in L.A., but when I’m out there I try to see some of them for lunch. We all get along.

Getting back to your theater work, the last time you appeared on the New York stage was this past spring at the Public Theater in Craig Lucas’s The Singing Forest, a complicated epic in which you played a gay Starbucks barista and a straight Nazi officer. In one scene, your Nazi character raped Olympia Dukakis’s character from behind for what felt like an eternity. Does that top of the list of surreal things you’ve had to do onstage?
Yes, it does. I was really excited to be a part of that project because I’m such a fan of Craig and the two roles I played were so extraordinarily polar opposite. I’d done a lot of classical work like Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Beckett, but I hadn’t done a new play since A Letter From Ethel Kennedy in 2002, so I really wanted to work on something new. It was a great experience. Olympia’s such a great actress, a great acting teacher, and a great person to just be in a room with so you can watch her work.

The reviews of The Singing Forest weren’t exactly raves. Did critics just not get it?
Oh, I don’t read criticism at all. I can’t. But I’d say 60% of actors don’t read criticism. It confuses you, so it’s just not worth it. I learned during Queer as Folk not to read any of the things people say about you.

You also played Alan Strang in Berkshire Theatre Festival’s celebrated 2005 production of Equus. How did you, unlike Daniel Radcliffe, manage to avoid having a picture of your penis posted all over the Internet?
Well, ushers were running down the aisles taking cameras out of peoples’ hands. Actually, I have heard that there is a way to get one — which isn’t a surprise, knowing some of my fans. I don’t know if it’s online, so you may have to go into one of those fan forums or live chats and talk to some middle-aged, overweight woman who probably has it in a file somewhere on her desktop.

Speaking of fans, novelist Christopher Rice once told me that he sometimes gets mistaken for you on the street. Do you ever get mistaken for Christopher Rice?
Nope. That’s weird, because isn’t he really tall? I often don’t get mistaken for myself anymore, which is comforting.

Original Source

Breathing Places

Come rain or shine, I shall be out in my garden between 11.00 am and 12.00 noon GMT tomorrow morning planting two trees for the BBC Tree O'Clock's Guinness world record attempt to plant the most trees in ONE hour!

My two beautiful trees will also count towards UNEP - Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign.

So, if you can spare an hour tomorrow and want to make YOUR part of the planet a nicer place to live, then you still have time to grab a tree - some are free from various places across the country - and get planting! Hope to see you there! ;)

Here's a cute video too:

Randy in video clip of POP!

Here's a video clip of Randy as Andy Warhol in POP! at the Yale Repertory Theatre. He looks fantastic and people who've seen it say he's brilliant in the part.

What's going on???

Why are links to past posts of mine showing up suddenly in Google alerts today? Some are MONTHS old! I don't understand...

Here's a pic (give it a couple of clicks, it does get LARGE) just to say sorry if you have a dozen links to my blog!!


EDIT: I think I figured out what happened. I couldn't find a couple of old posts and started fiddling about with the tags/labels. Didn't think at the time, but of course if you re-label a post google picks it up as new. Sorry people!

Gale sighted in Miami...

according to The Miami Herald:

Lunching at Michael's Genuine Food & Drink Wednesday: actor Gale Harold of Queer as Folk and Desperate Housewives fame.

So, what's he doing in Miami? Working (fingers crossed) or just a little holiday?

No idea what he ate, but here's the lunch menu, so, any guesses? Apparently it serves great food and it's "casual dress" so he's right at home! :)

Oh, by the way, I wonder if we'll see him in one of their $20 "organic" T-shirts? ;)

Original Source

Couple of new Gale pics...

Fay posted a couple of pics of Gale on her Facebook wall here. They are obviously the ones she promised to post way back when Gale joined her to do the commentary for the Falling for Grace DVD.

She says he's "quite funny in it..." - don't hold back with those gushing compliments, Fay, will you?


He looks damned cute in them though!

Russell Crowe on making Robin Hood...

Russell Crowe talking about making Robin Hood. His son is in this too and he is adorable.

Fertile Ground - Gale pics...

Here are some pics that the lovely Kinwad on livejournal was very kind enough to share with everyone.

I picked a few of the Gale ones and made them bigger, so click on them. The rest you can see here.

He does look amazing in these, so let's just hope that this film is one of the better examples of the genre. Oh, I really do hope so!


UPDATE: I did a couple more, you can barely see Gale in them so I thought they might benefit from being bigger! (I took all the pics back down a size, too, because I didn't like the loss of quality. They're still big, but not quite so big!) :)

Fertile Ground popularity...

So, Fertile Ground is up 58% in popularity on IMDb this week.

Its Moviemeter went from 26,094 on 27 September to 16,472 on 4 October!

Now, I wonder why...

Russell Crowe does such weird stuff...

and that's why I love him!

He's just given away a £60,000 (approx. US$95,514) prop from his film Robin Hood to the Clanranald Trust in Scotland, a charitable organisation which aims to raise awareness of Scottish culture and heritage through interactive education.

The prop - a battering ram - will be used during their medieval battle re-enactments, which will be held at the replica medieval Motte and Bailey Fort they are building in the Fintry Hills. They hope it will serve as a visitor attraction.

Apparently the idea is to provide an arena where groups and individuals can experience the atmosphere of an authentic medieval working community.

I won't tell you how much money they've already spent on this fort, you'll have to read this article if you want to know.

Hmm, nice gesture, although I just can't see the relevance of this Trust at all! I know, I'm terrible, aren't I and I'm being very mean spirited.

Anyway, well done, Russ, for being such a generous mad man with your friends! I do really love him for doing ridiculous things like this! You know what though, I'm pretty sure that in similar circumstances, Gale would do crazy stuff like this, too! ;)

Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing's Garden Party Event on October 11th is a bit of a QAF Reunion!

With Bobby Gant, Thea Gill, Scott Lowell as well as Gale Harold all attending, this is going to be a QAF Reunion party too! Not only those four though, because Sharon Gless is one of this year's honourees, and will be the recipient of the first annual Triangle Pioneer Award.

Interestingly, also attending will be Ming Na. Like Gale, she DOESN'T have Vanished listed as a past memorable job either! Hee! The other interesting attendee is Wes Ramsey of Latter Days fame! Oh, how I loved that film at the time.

The party is open to the general public, so I certainly expect several QAF fans to attend on my behalf - it's a bit far for me to travel just for a couple of hours. It's very tempting, though, especially since there is apparently going to be a silent auction! Hm, I wonder what or WHO is up for auction? ;)

Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing's Garden Party Event on October 11th!
Celebrity honorees Leeza Gibbons and Sharon Gless, fabulous silent auction, music by DJ Griffin White, fashion show by Andrew Christian, Qantas Airlines raffle, exquisite food by Nadia Millani Catering will surely put the 'fun' in GLEH's Fall Garden Party
Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ — The 2009 Garden Party to benefit Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing will be held from 1pm to 6pm on Sunday, October 11th 2009 at the Hancock Park Estate of Ms. Dayna Devon and Dr. Brent Moelleken in Los Angeles, CA. This year's event is entitled "Celebrating Equality's Pioneers" - celebrating the courage of past generations, honoring their revolutionary leadership and accomplishments which allow us the many liberties that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and elder communities are able to enjoy today.

The event is open to the general public and will offer exceptional food, cocktails, a fantastic silent auction, fashion show by Andrew Christian, entertainment by Mental Head Circus, music by DJ Griffin White and a special tribute to our LGBT seniors. This year's distinguished honorees are Leeza Gibbons (Leeza's Place) who will be bestowed with the Ron S. Gelb Community Service Award and Sharon Gless (Queer As Folk, Hannah Free) who is the recipient of the first annual Triangle Pioneer Award.

This annual event will feature celebrity guest appearances by:

Lance Bass (Nsync)
Robert Gant (Queer As Folk)
Jai Rodriguez (Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!
Thomas Bierdz (Young & The Restless
Jonathan Bennett (Van Wilder 2)
Frenchie Davis (American Idol)
Brian Nolan (The Lair)
Jennia Fredrique (Noah's Arc)
Ming Na (ER, Joy Luck Club)
Wes Ramsey (Latter Days, Charmed, CSI Miami)
Calpirnia Addams (Transamerican Love Story)
Ben Patrick Johnson
Daniel Sladek (Emmy Award winning producer of Prayers for Bobby")
Chris Taaffe (Emmy Award winning producer of "Prayers for Bobby")
Doug Spearman (Noah's Ark)
Thea Gill (Queer as Folk)
Gale Harold (Queer as Folk, Desperate Housewives)
Scott Lowell (Queer as Folk)
Jesse Ferguson (Modern Family)
Angela Featherstone (Exe's and Oh's)
Amy Paffrath (E!)
Drew Seeley (Another Cinderella Story)

This event is not only a chance for supporters of Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing to take part in an exceptional fund-raising event together, but it is an invitation to the community to celebrate and experience the magic of the nation's first affordable housing development providing vital housing and social support services to some of the nation's most vulnerable seniors.

Each year, as our senior population grows, countless low-income LGBT seniors are faced with the challenge of securing safe, permanent affordable housing and social services that address their specific concerns and meet their unique needs. The program is dependent on the contributions and support of the community, private foundations, donors and volunteers.
Advertisement

Sponsors for this event include Wells Fargo Bank, Ben Patrick Johnson Foundation, Mike Mueller Designs Inc., Qantas Airlines, Capitol Drugs-PowerZone, Union Bank, CAZCO Construction, CRA/LA, Zuno Studios, Silver Birches and Gabriel Pacheco Designs. Alcohol sponsored by Beam Global Spirits and Wine (Effen, Hornitos, Makers Mark, Dekuyper, Cruzan Rum) - Media sponsors include Frontiers Publishing, Lesbian News and Reality Cares.

For information about the event, sponsorship or to purchase tickets, please visit www.gleh.org or contact Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing at 323.957.7200.

Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building and operating high-quality affordable, multicultural housing developments which include a community space used to provide social and recreational services for GLBT older adults. Our goal is to provide a safe, nurturing environment that supports the well-being of GLBT elders.

Source

Btw, here's a link if anyone wants to buy tickets! :)

Congratulations Rio...

and commiserations Chicago!

It's funny, but this decision amazed me, I was absolutely SURE that Chicago was going to win the Olympic bid! I was almost as shocked that Chicago WASN'T chosen as I was four years ago when London WAS chosen!

Better get saving then, I don't suppose a trip to Rio for 17 days will be cheap. At least the 2012 Olympics will be cheaper... they're on my own doorstep! :)

Randy's appearance at the Emelin Theatre last night...

Here are some pictures of Randy appearing last night at the Emelin Theatre in Mamaroneck, New York at a behind-the-scenes look at the process of taking Shakespeare from the page to the stage. (UPDATE: I made them a little larger, click.)

Randy was with Elisabeth Waterston and Ezra Knight in an open rehearsal of Measure for Measure, directed by Michael Sexton, The Shakespeare Society's Artistic Director, with commentary from Shakespearean scholar Ruth Carpenter.

A discussion and reception with the artists followed the programme.

He looks absolutely adorable in them! :)



Photos courtesy of the Emelin Theatre website.

Dog fighting gang sentenced...

I was very, very relieved when four people involved in "Europe's largest dogfighting syndicates" were convicted on 15th September, I blogged about it here. At the time I wrote about my fear that they wouldn't get custodial sentences, but instead get paltry fines and a couple of hours of community service.

Well I was wrong. They did get custodial sentences. Nothing too severe though, apparently horrendous cruelty to an animal in this country only warrants a maximum six months in jail!

Anyway, Claire Parker, the woman who held the dog fights at her home, was sentenced to only four and a half months in jail and was banned from owning a dog for ten years. The other three were sentenced to between five and a half and six months in jail and banned from owning a dog for life.

I'm pleased, I really am, that they all got jail time. I just don't think it's anywhere near long enough. How can the sentence for a bank robber in this country be anything between 10 and 30 years, depending on the violence used, and yet the most appalling cruelty meted out to animals for days, months and, in some cases, years only warrants six months or LESS in jail. I just don't understand.

Read the full report on the sentencing here.

Oh, and the great pitbull pic is from the fabulous I Can Has Cheezeburger website.

This cat gets a tap on the head...

I saw this a few months ago, but somehow didn't post about it here. Almost 2 million have viewed it so far, so forgive me if you've seen it before, but I find it fascinating! :)

Anyway, I was reminded of it the other day, thanks to the fabulous Cats Protection, who posted it on their Facebook page.

It's hilarious, but I can't imagine what makes the cat think this is the easiest way to get a drink! Why can't his owner put him a little bowl down? Oh, sorry... that wouldn't make an entertaining video now would it! ;)

Okay, here it is:

Breast Cancer Awareness Month - October!

I think by now we're all very familiar with the fact that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Because of this, I've given my blog a bit of a facelift to a very pretty - in my opinion - pink theme. This is not only for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but also to celebrate my best friend's (hee, I typed 'breast' friend!) seventh year as a survivor. We've been friends for a hell of a long time - I'm sorry, I can't be more specific because she'd kill me if I told you exactly how long! All I can say is that we met at school and that place is a very distant memory, but thank God, she isn't! She's alive and well and still my friend and that's due to the fact that we get free mammograms every three years and it was at one of these routine mammograms that her cancer was picked up!

So, when you get that letter from the NHS, or your doctor, asking you to attend for a mammogram and you think you don't need it, can't be bothered or you just don't think you'll have the time. Please bother. Please make the time! Only takes five minutes once you're there and those five minutes could save your life.

You can go to Cancer Research UK to fundraise, donate of just buy something pink and help this wonderful charity keep the research going which perhaps will stop someone dying of this disease.

Better yet, go buy yourself, your best friend or your girlfriend this little gift set. It's by the fabulous Butler and Wilson, so you know it's going to be beautiful and 15 quid will go straight to that other great charity, Breast Cancer Care.

Of course, if you believe all the exploitation theories around again this year about companies exploiting the pink ribbon - read Susie Collins' post of last year entitled Why I Boycott Breast Cancer Awareness Month - you could always do what I do, and that's just give your money straight to the charity of your choice without buying anything.

I do believe that most companies who get involved in the Breast Cancer Awareness Month are quite happy to garner kudos from their customers for trying to help, but I don't agree that it's just simply exploitation. In any case, there is always free will, so if you do happen to believe the exploitation theory, then don't buy anything, but that's still no excuse for not handing over some money! Go on, do it, do it now, I dare ya!

FFG DVD not being released in February now!

You get a beautiful picture today because the news is crap, not at all unexpected, but still crap.

The date for the Falling for Grace DVD release has been put back a month from February 9th to March 9th. This isn't on either Fay's or the FFG Twitter pages and neither Facebook page has this news. No, the only reason we know this is because she emailed a friend and that friend very kindly posted the news on livejournal. This is what she wrote:

The distributor just pushed the DVD release date back to March 9th. It's a moving target, I guess. We'll need a lot of help spreading the word!

What's this all about, "we'll need a lot of help spreading the word!"? Put it on Facebook, Fay, tweet about it. You'll be surprised how fast the news spreads!

Anyway, this isn't at all unexpected, especially when, as I posted here, only a couple of days ago Fay was saying that she was still "gathering all the materials to go to press."

If we all didn't have our tongues hanging out waiting for any new and exciting news about Fertile Ground, I expect this setback would have hit harder. As it is, it just feels like a minor inconvenience! Oh well, I suppose I'll get to see this film eventually... that's if I live long enough of course! :)

Any excuse to post a Gale pic... and a Randy one!

I was obviously far too deeply immersed in the "is he or isn't he" question of Gale's involvement in the film Fertile Ground to notice this, but someone asked Fay a question on her Facebook page yesterday.

The question was "How is the DVD coming along?"

Fay's reply:

It's definitely coming along. We are gathering all the materials to go to press. It's kinda crazy how hard it is to "deliver" to distributors - almost harder than making the movie :)

Hm, in other words it's not coming along much at all. The good news is she obviously has distributors for the DVD, the bad is that those distributors have presumably not received anything from her as of yesterday! What the hold up is, I can only imagine. Something to do with the editing of all those commentaries she's done with various people, perhaps! ;)

As some of you may know already, Randy is going to be chatting - rather a long chat actually as it's scheduled to last two hours - with Dr. Kenneth Elliott, who is Assistant Professor of Theater in the Department of Fine Arts at Rutgers University - Camden. You can find more information here.

No new picture for the poster on this event, I'm afraid, and I wonder what Randy thinks about "star of Showtime drama series "Queer as Folk" and Broadway's hit show Wicked" being picked out as his claims to fame! ;)

Randy poster comes via the lovely Kinwad on lj.

Gale's new movie... let's hope!

So, there's been plenty of speculation over the last few days as to whether Gale really is associated with a new horror movie called Fertile Ground.

The very reliable Kinwad on livejournal first broke the news a couple of days ago that Gale had been filming this new movie. (Although she has now locked both her posts, probably because the poor girl was being pestered for her source.*) This news tied in with the Gale sighting in Des Moines, first mentioned on Twitter, which is apparently near where the filming was taking place.

The equally reliable StellaDallas on IMDb has managed to find some information on the plot here - be careful though, her post obviously contains spoilers for the movie!

When I first heard about this and posted about it briefly here, I was not at all happy about Gale doing a horror movie. I don't enjoy most trashy guts and gore horror movies and never particularly want to see Gale in one - that's not to say I wouldn't watch it, because if he's in it how could I possibly resist, it's just that I would hate it! ;)

I am therefore oh so very pleased that, on paper at least, it sounds much more of a psychological/paranormal type movie, rather than a zombie/brain eating/blood and guts one! In fact, because of the, I think, very reliable sources this information has come from, I am allowing myself to tentatively look forward to it!

The Production Designer for the movie is **Hannah E. Beachler and she has posted some set pictures from the movie on her website. Here they are, click and they get bigger:







It would be rather nice to have some pictorial confirmation of Gale's involvement in this sooner rather than later!


*The lovely Kinwad's posts are back! That's great, although it's still true that nothing official has been released!

**This bit of blurb is on Hannah Beachler's website

Currently Hannah is
Production Designing the
Feature Film "Fertile Ground"
Directed by Adam Gierasch
Produced by Limor Diamant

Passenger Side and a new Gale project... perhaps!

Okay so I'm thrilled to bits now as I've just booked my tickets for the October 25th showing of Passenger Side here in London.

I was late booking today because I had to go out first thing, so by the time I got around to booking just now, lots of seats had already gone! This film is obviously very eagerly anticipated by other members of the BFI. Not necessarily just the Gale fans, like me, either! ;)

I know Gale's part in this is very small, but just having the chance to see him on the big screen again after all this time is fabulous! It's been 5 years since Particles of Truth was shown here, so it's been a long, long wait to see him again.

I'm not really sure about the other Gale news today. One part of me is very pleased because we get to see more of him, and it is, of course, very good that he's working. The other part of me isn't quite so happy about him working on a straight to DVD horror film, although my niece will be thrilled as she loves that type of film. I must agree with StellaDallas on IMDb (who is one of a small handful of people over there I value the word of), please, please let this film be more of a psychological thriller than a blood, guts and gore type! I really wouldn't want Gale to do one of those. :(

UPDATE: Here's another link with more information on that new movie... maybe. :)

FFG in China? Well, maybe...

The interesting thing about this new tweet from Fay is the fact that Gale may go with her to China this time. This may only be wishful thinking on Fay's part at the moment, we'll see, but if it happens, how fantastically lucky for you Gale fans in China and how lucky for Gale - a, hopefully, all expenses paid trip to China! The same for those of you in Florida, how wonderful if it does open at a theatre near you. I wouldn't hold my breath though if I were you.

Falling for Grace may go to China...Gale & Fay may go as well...More requests to open theatrically - this winter in Florida perhaps?

I am quite jealous and I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but why has she never tried getting this shown at any film festivals in the UK or Europe?

Oh, well, roll on February 9, I shall be pre-ordering my DVD as soon as I can!

Hotlanta!

Hal Sparks is in Georgia and tweeted this a few hours ago:

It's Hot here in Atlanta...

well you know where my mind went immediately!

Yep, you've guessed it: