Did Jonas Brothers Get The Hanson Treatment?

Posted on September 30, 2009 by queerlefty

That was the question I kept asking myself while I was reading through a series of reviews of Jonas Brothers’ June release Lines, Vines and Trying Times recently, compiled by the aggregator site Metacritic. To answer this question however, I have to define what is meant by the term Hanson treatmenmt. The answer goes way back. Continue reading →

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Queer, There And Everywhere

Posted on September 24, 2009 by queerlefty

I was so happy to read Benoit Denizet-Lewis’ piece on young gay teens in a preview for this weekend’s New York Times Sunday Magazine. Denizet-Lewis, a former writer with young gay mag XY reports, rather upbeat, on how the schoolyard has now become another possible beacon of freedom and self-expression for gay kids in middle school. While never blind to the homophobia that still thrives somewhere on the outer reaches of his article’s universe (and even within it at times, containing stories of verbal abuse of one of the story’s informants), his project is a perhaps even trickier one than the usual story about the hardships of the school gay: To make us revise that perception. Continue reading →

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In Belated August Upset, Efron Wins Back SMA Title

Posted on September 3, 2009 by queerlefty

Before you re-read David Plotz’ otherwise excellent case for abolishing August (it’s such a crappy month that even its SMA edition runs late!), consider the August edition of the Sexiest Males Alive list. Things have been fairly stable for months and months, and I didn’t expect August, of all months, to be the one to change that (heck, the SMA even was on an August hiatus last year!) But that was before these pictures of Zac Efron came before my eyes. Just when I thought the lovely Emile Hirsch had crushed all opposition once and for all, Zefron manages to regain pole position for the first time in ten months. It was somewhat surprising, since the premiere 17 Again earlier this summer failed to topple Hirsch. Maybe it was my purchase of the 17 Again DVD that made the difference. September’s arrival of Ang Lee’s Hirsch-induced Taking Woodstock has potential to put the heat back on, however (as if it was ever off). Continue reading →

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The Case For Caring About Famous Dead People

Posted on August 29, 2009 by queerlefty

The response to the recent news about the death of John Hughes, director of seminal teen comedy works like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club, was interesting in a number of ways. Not only because his death gave me a reason to rewatch some of the best comedies of my lifetime, but also because the sudden outpourings of nostalgia had me thinking about the nature of admiring and identifying with famous people. Continue reading →

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‘The Line of Beauty’, Or The Elephant In The Ballroom

Posted on August 10, 2009 by queerlefty

Amid all the lies, wars, corruption, authoritarianism and disingenuous privatization schemes, it’s easy to forget  the things Tony Blair’s New Labour actually got right. In addition to several policy initiatives aimed at improving the state of public health care and education, Labour first and foremost deserves credit for its commitment to social liberalism. The Blair government finally abolished the disgraceful Section 28 law threatening teachers with losing their jobs if they taught about or adviced on homosexuality in school, and the former prime minister himself also was an unrelenting ambassador of modernity and tolerance when it came to LGBT issues. Blair may have been the savior that wasn’t in 1990’s social democracy, but in many ways, Britain still needed him. Continue reading →

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After Three Years Of Gayness, A Re-Post

Posted on August 7, 2009 by queerlefty

With some minor tweaks, and in honor of my now three-year gayniversary; a re-post of my 2008 coming-out piece Two Years Ago Today Since I Came Out.

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August 7 is the one day of the year when I allow myself to be absolutely, unabashedly, one-hundred percent gay. I don’t know much about personal courage, living in a liberal country with my liberal friends and liberal family, but I can’t help but feel a little bit of pride when I think back at the day when I finally took the leap, and told others about my true identity. That’s also why I so deeply admire all the young people growing up knowing, or simply fearing, that their being gay will cause them pain and exclusion, and then do go ahead and do it anyway – because they want to be true to themselves. These things take character. Continue reading →

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All The Right Reasons Why I Love The Jayhawks

Posted on August 4, 2009 by queerlefty

There’s always something challenging when your favorite band decides to put together a best-of compilation. You are guaranteed to disagree with some of the song choices, and there is also the little detail that best-of albums by default point to a glorious past, but not necessarily an equally glorious future. For many, if not most bands, releasing what’s basically a career summary would seem like an implicit acknowledgement that your best years are behind you. Sure, it’s a nice service to people who may have just discovered you, but to your longtime fans, it may illicit one of two responses: Either the arrogant shrug, meaning that the compilation is written off as something unworthy of real, loyal fans, because they of course already own, know and love all your records and look with some suspicion at anyone who might need a best-of-compilation as an introduction. Or they engage with it with some emotional distance, as something less than an original album, but still worthy of academic interest, if only to discuss how the got the song selection so spectacularly wrong. Continue reading →

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In Third Season Of ‘Skins’, A New Beginning. A Good One, Too

Posted on July 29, 2009 by queerlefty

There’s a very real risk of alienation associated with introducing a whole new slate of characters to a television universe viewers have already grown familiar with and attached to, no matter how much work you put into making it seem like a plausibly organic development. Recent history has given us two examples, and both gave ample reasons for concern. In the late 1990’s, CBS’ once-successful hospital drama Chicago Hope, already way past its prime (if it ever had one), had to be revamped in order to stay on the air. The solution was to replace practically the entire old and trusted cast with less interesting actors, basically making this Chicago Hope in name only. Predictably, the soapy David E. Kelly-produced drama didn’t last much longer. Continue reading →

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Emile Hirsch Soldiers On Atop July’s SMA, With Zac Hanson Suddenly One To Watch

Posted on July 26, 2009 by queerlefty

It’s another fairly stable month on the Sexiest Males Alive last, and as usual Emile Hirsch is that stability’s best ambassador. This month he fended off a surprisingly strong challenge from Jesse McCartney, one I admit picked up steam after I noticed that one poster at a JesseMac fan forum had cited my recent ECG as an example of Jesse’s gay fanbase. Continue reading →

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In Cinematic Mythology, The Hustler Is A Symbol Of Independence

Posted on July 21, 2009 by queerlefty

Several things came to mind when I rewatched Gus van Sant’s still magnificently playful and daring My Own Private Idaho recently; how great it was to see River Phoenix again, that it was refreshing to watch a Keanu Reeves movie without feeling the instant need to jump out the window as soon as he started talking; but the thought that really struck me was this: Why is the subject of hustling so fascinating? Continue reading →

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