‘Equus’, Bits And Pieces

Posted on May 20, 2008 by queerlefty

When Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe headlined the play Equus last year, he garnered quite a bit of buzz due to the simple fact that he at times had no clothes on. It might be that I don’t read the right magazines or something, but to this day, I have yet to read an actual assessment of the quality of his performance, acting-wise. What I have read extensively about, however, is the quality of his body, and more specifically his butt. Pictures soon emerged, and we could see for ourselves that The Magic Wizard’s rear end was something to cherish. So much so, in fact, that Attitude named it 2007’s Rear Of The Year. With good reason, I should say, even though Jamie Bell put up a good ass, too. Needless to say, Mitch Hewer is a frontrunner (or was it the other way around?) for 2008.

But he will not stand unopposed. The success of Equus has provided us with another young lad taking his clothes off for the arts. Alfie Allen, pop sensation Lilly’s brother, replaced Radcliffe for the UK tour, and it seems his butt does no harm to the brand. Considering Radcliffe’s is pretty much impossible to top (tihi), this is nothing to be disappointed about. Now if only we could match Alfie’s face and body with that one superior body part of Daniel’s…

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Kudos To California

Posted on May 16, 2008 by queerlefty

Earlier this year, when the Norwegian centre-left government sent to parliament a bill to legalize gay marriage, I was immediately taken by a sense of pride. Not so much on the part of myself or my fellow gayers, but on part of my country, which I of course love dearly no matter what. While one may think of Norwegian as a liberal ocean per se, as we legalized civil unions more than 15 years ago, this final step towards equal marriage rights still had taken some effort. Of course. Norway differs from the United States in that these battles are won in parliament – the bill is expected to pass by a fairly wide margin, made up of both socialists, social democrats, greens, liberals and even some conservatives – whereas in America many of the touchstone changes in this area have come from the judicial branch, because many states have tried to narrow the legal definition of marriage to a religiously and culturally founded opposite sex institution.

However, this is by no means meant to diminish the importance of Wednesday’s ruling in the California Supreme Courts, that the state can no longer deny equal marriage rights to same-sex couples. It’s a bold ruling, but the majority opinion provided a very strong case. California becomes only the second state – Massachusetts is the other – to take this step, though the formal legislative process is not yet underway. To the credit of Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger he has said he will respect the ruling, now that the court has spoken (he has vetoed gay marriage bills previously, saying he considers this an issue not for politics, but for either voters or the courts to weigh in on.) It’s perhaps no shocker that the home of world gay capital San Francisco now has finally earned to its reputation as a liberal bastion, but that makes it no less encouraging.

For a moment we are all Californians.

**

Correction, May 16: This post originally wrongly stated that Governor Schwarzenegger would not allow an anti-gay marriage amendment ballot initiative on this issue, as is in the wings for November. It’s not in his power to decide which initiatives goes on the ballot. He has, however, said he wouldn’t endorse such a an anti-gay marriage amendment.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Mitch Hewer Made Me A ‘Cosmo’ Guy

Posted on May 15, 2008 by queerlefty

No sooner had I finished typing a blog post about Mitch Hewer displaying his goods on the second season of E4’s Skins, than was I directed from a half-shoddy gay forum to the website for female gossip and lifestyle magazine Cosmopolitan, in search of their 2008 Celebrity Centrefold, said to feature the young Brit save his clothes. Immediately I felt a wee bit ashamed, for two reasons; a) desperately searching for naked celebs just sound a little old-school pervy; and b) I was breaking into straight territory to get my fix. I don’t exactly know why this need to rationalize all my encounters with the the straight outerworld suddenly emerges, but I guess it has something to with me not wanting to be seen as a gay cliche. I’m not on my way to become obsessed with hairstyles or shoes or fashion. And, before you even ask: I’m not clinging to my outside-the-gay-cliche-status because I’m questioning my sexuality. I’ve been there, done that. I’m gay, trust me. Just maybe not that kind of gay.

However, I eventually took the leap, and I don’t regret it. Cosmo treated me not only with an absolutely marvelous shot of young Mitch – though there is something disturbing about the facial expression and toning of his skin, the pose itself is hot as hell, and it even comes with a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot. In it, he yet again proves that he needn’t be naked to get my heart racing. His somewhat effeminate smile and attitude is pure gold, and I happen to have a thing for British accents as well (see: Bell, Jamie). Witness the way he pronounces naked (nay-kidd) and you’ll understand what I’m talking about perfectly. The blond sensation toying with his perfectly muscled body, and muse mock-insecure about having no clothes on? Count me in.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Skins Dipping

Posted on May 9, 2008 by queerlefty

The British teen soap Skins may not be brilliant, but it sure looks good. The show still haven’t premiered in Norway, but I was led to it by a profile in British gaymag Attitude on young leads Nicholas Hoult and Mitch Hewer. The piece was typically well-written, the guys looked smashing, and the plot instilled in me a sense of O.C.-esque soapy drama, all adding up to an almost irresistible sales pitch. I ordered the first season on DVD, and watched it in its entirety over two exhausting days.

Initially, Skins seemed to play to the shallowest of my instincts. All episodes packed with incredibly hot young things, frequently naked, I didn’t ask for substance or some actually engaging dramatic developments. But as the show found its course, even the storylines grew on me. While not fully developed, the gay character Maxxie Oliver is refreshingly sef-assured, and he fits well into this group of people managing their minor troubles, while generally enjoying being young. Of course, it was no drawback that Mitch Hewer is both wildly charming and incredibly attractive. The love triangle storyline he had with Nicholas Hoult’s protagonist cynic felt a bit forced, but to couple two such hunks could never be a bad thing, no matter what you demand from your average telly fare.

Because the first season lowered my guard, and occasionally even managed to get my into the Skins universe, I’m a little surprised that I have not yet signed up for my copy of the season 2 DVD, which was released just last week. Even more so if you consider the fact that Hewer finally will get naked, and they even promise that Maxxie will take center stage for one or more episodes. I’ll probably come to my senses soon, overcoming the creeping feeling that my reasons for enjoying this show are simply too shallow. Until then, I praise some higher power that the essentials are already available for YouTube viewing.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Geek Squad

Posted on May 6, 2008 by queerlefty

Apparently, I’m into geeks. This insight came to me a couple of days ago, mindlessly browsing YouTube for something (or someone) pleasant to watch. I don’t remember what I was looking for exactly, but luck directed me towards some old clips from the British pop show Popworld, and, more importantly, its gorgeous co-host Simon Amstell. The show’s run ended a couple of years back, and Amstell abandoned ship still earlier to pursue a career as a stand up comedian, but little tidbits are still available online.

With his big, curly hair, Amstell is probably not your average cutie, but his smile, in combination with his fresh British wit, totally had me melting. He seems to be a great interviewer, but I couldn’t help but focusing more on his looks than on the words that came out of his mouth. He may be slightly older than I usually go for, but I don’t care. And to top it all off, he’s gay, too.

Like Amstell, young actors Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg probably aren’t the kind of guys that most people would consider hot, but I am sort of in love with them both. Cera caught my interest with Arrested Development, but with Superbad and Juno he blossomed into an utterly lovable geek. Not all this has to do with looks, of course, as he is also an infectiously charming young man, but he sure looks good as well.

If I were to pick one thing that attracted me physically to all three of them, I’d have to say their smiles. I discovered Eisenberg as the insecure teen Kenny Green in Get Real in the early 2000’s, but his vivid charm is most fully on display in freshman writer-director Dylan Kidd’s Roger Dodger, in which Eisenberg all but repeated his Kenny Green shtick. The film is not your average sex comedy, and Jesse Eisenberg is not your average teen hearthhrob. But he’s mine. (For evidence that Eisenberg can be equally sexy as a moping, stubborn teenager, watch The Squid And The Whale. Several times over, like I did.)

Posted in Entertainment, TV | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

57 Channels And ‘Dawson’ On

Posted on May 1, 2008 by queerlefty

Flipping through the channels yesterday, I ended up with an old Dawson’s Creek episode. Even in its best moments the show was only bearable, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have a special place in my heart. I watched the second season of the show on TV in the summer of 2005, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the ‘Jack-McPhee-is-gay’ storyline somehow helped me come to terms with my own feelings, when I finally faced them a year or so later. It was not so much that I thought Kerr Smith was kinda hot, than the pro-gay environment of Capeside in a way felt comforting to an insecure young gay looking into fiction from the real world.

This particular episode – it must’ve been from early in the third season or something – was nothing much, but it was still pleasant. Jack chickened out of his first gay date, because ‘ [then] I would not only tell the world that I’m gay. I would actually be gay.’ That would be a familiar position of sorts, were it not for the fact that I’ve never been on a date, gay or straight. On this sad note, we salute gay Dawson’s writer Greg Berlanti for actually writing some halfways decent scripts on this issue, particularly in the second season. And tomorrow I will probably make that half-conscious flipping of channels thing again, trying to deny that I’m really looking for another dose of Dawson’s escapism.

Posted in TV | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Who’s Afraid Of A Naked Torso?

Posted on January 13, 2008 by queerlefty

The documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) sets out to expose the randomness of the American film ratings system, as practiced by the MPAA. It’s a good film, because it sheds light on the power the board of the MPAA, and how arbitrary many of their decisions seem to be. It highlights how odd the MPAA’s criteria can be, in an example from American Psycho director Mary Harron that would’ve been deeply hilarious, if it weren’t such a challenge to the American value of free speech; Harron was told that the board had no problems whatsoever with the very graphic violence in the film. What earned it its NC-17 rating was a rather unexciting threesome sex scene early in the film. So, why is it that the MPAA reacts so much stronger to explicit sex, that being expression of personal passion and lust, than to the very graphic slaughter of more than a dozen people?

This film is not a thesis, and thus it doesn’t attempt to answer the question, but the simple fact that the question is posed, is welcome. Don’t you ever tell me that watching fake sex between consenting adults is generally more mentally or physically crippling to young impressionable minds than the inconsequential violence of mainstream Hollywood action flicks. I won’t buy it.

On a side note, it is no surprise to learn that depiction of gay sex is generally earning a film a stricter rating than films containing comparable amounts of sex between straight people. No wonder young gays have to turn to porn. The film company will not risk the depiction of normal gay activies, for fear of offending the MPAA or the audience.

Posted in movies | Tagged , | 2 Comments

In ‘Imaginary Heroes’, All That I Need

Posted on December 28, 2007 by queerlefty

I’ve written earlier about how I may choose a movie for relatively shallow reasons (i.e., I saw Superbad for the sheer cuteness of Michael Cera), and I have to admit that initially I was drawn to Dan Harris’s Imaginary Heroes simply because young lead Emile Hirsch is incredibly hot. It was only later, after having watched the movie bits and pieces a total of three times, that I realized it’s also an absolutely excellent film about the hardships of a family trying to get through a personal tragedy.

Its somewhat cynical tone brings an immediate quoteability to the sardonic comedy, but luckily it never comes across as shallow or forced. My sudden need to recite the full first 20 minutes stems only in part from the impressively well-written script. A more cynical critic than myself could charge that Harris is heaping all sorts of tragic events and dysfunctional personality traits onto his characters (the suicide of the older brother; both teen and parental drug use; depression; a less than loving father-son relationship), but it’s all acted out in such a convincingly somber tone that it only heightens the emotional effect.

The film in many ways reminds me of Burr Steers’s absolutely magnificent 2002 debut Igby Goes Down, which by all means is to be considered a compliment. Both films evolve around young and independent-minded guys (Hirsch and Kieran Culkin, respectively), whose fathers have retreated into depression due to a sense of personal failure (Bill Pullman and Jeff Daniels, respectively). At the center of their respective families stand two strong and sometimes cynical mothers, portrayed by Sigourney Weaver (not a stranger to films about dysfunctional families, see Ang Lee’s fine adaptation of The Ice Storm) in Imaginary Heroes, and by the always reliable Susan Sarandon in Igby. Both films deserve high praise for seamlessly combining a sharp tone with the unsentimental but thoughtful treatment they give the families’ traumas.

To return to the opening point of this post, I don’t regret giving in to my physical attraction to Hirsch and give the moving a shot. Unlike what came out of sitting through the unbearable Girl Next Door for a dark glimpse of his naked frame and hairy chest, this film actually stimulated me intellectually along the way. I’m not saying the fact that Hirsch share a gay kiss with his boyish co-star Ryan Donowho (of The O.C. fame) didn’t at all contribute to my positive assessment of the film, but I ask to be believed when I say it played a small part. Young Leonardos such as Hirsch will never drag a movie down, but only a script this rich and moving will lift them all the way up.

Posted in film | 2 Comments

Rewatching Queer as Folk, Revisiting Me

Posted on December 27, 2007 by queerlefty

Like any young gay to have come out just recently, I was looking for appreciation of gayness in all of mainstream pop culture, which in late summer of 2006 led me to Channel 4’s soapy gay drama Queer as Folk. The show turned out to be exactly the raucous, self-aware fun I was looking for, helping me coming to terms with what set me apart from the rest of the pack. Even though I kept insisting to myself that my being gay would not change much of how I saw myself, Queer offered me the opportunity to fully embrace the all-out gayness I wish I had the courage to display in public. It helped, if not socially, then on a psychological level. I may never become an extrovert, but I’m not going to use my gayness as an excuse for my shyness, I said to myself.

I absolutely hate to admit this, but the fact that I am physically disabled, in a wheelchair, has only boosted my shyness. It’s definitely hard to flirt with other guys if by the next minute you could be dependent on them to  (literally) carry you to bed (sex or not). I guess I could come across as a fairly self-confident guy, but truth be told, that’s more about my tendency toward cynicism than anything else. I can of course be charming, but I’m so afraid of letting other people get to know me that I tend to scare them away with my somewhat rough-edged sense of humor. Add to that that my looks are boringly average at best, and the chance of me and some bloke hitting it off anytime is severely limited. But that doesn’t mean one cannot hope. First and foremost, hope is what Queer as Folk instills in me.

It’s sad of course, but to people like me, Queer is escapism, above all. We drool over the absolutely astonishing beauty of Charlie Hunnam, and we wish for Christmas for an healthy dose of the charm and confidence of Aidan Gillen’s Stuart Allan Jones. When nothing else than the post-orgasmic bliss caused by the former materialize, we go back to our normal, sad lives. Still gay, still hoping for better days, but with an imminent sense of personal stagnation..

Posted in queer_as_folk gay me | 5 Comments

For Girlie Guy Efron, Gay Rumours Are Sure To Persist

Posted on December 25, 2007 by queerlefty

When Zac Efron burst onto the celeb scene courtesy of his role as Cameron Bale on the short-lived WB whiner Summerland back in 2004, it was hard to see this as a step toward immediate super-stardom. On the show, he was consistently outshined by his absolutely gorgeous co-star Jesse McCartney, and Efron’s own apparent good looks had not yet gone into full bloom. His presence was curiously appealing, but he was still to break my top 50 of cutest guys (come to think of it, I didn’t have such a list at the time, since I didn’t yet consider myself gay, but never mind). That was not to change until teenybopper sing-along juggernaut High School Musical captured the attention of every single pop culture buff sometime last year. Oh, had he grown up!

Leave the girls and straighters with Vanessa Hudgens, and leave a-little-too-ordinary Lucas Grabeel to those so inclined. To me, and to practically every other gay guy in the franchise’s massive TV audience, the real breakout star was Efron. Still a bad actor and a so-so singer, we had to look elsewhere to justify our interest. Most of us were sold when his flashed his impressive abs in the locker room scenes of the first movie, and he didn’t disappointment in the more show-offy sequel either, but ironically, to the gay crowd, the best to come from the HSM movies might have been his ongoing relationship with co-star Hudgens.

Had they not hit it off on set, they wouldn’t have flown off to Hawaii, greeting us with with papparazzi pics proving that Zac is growing hotter by the day. His abs are still magnificent, and it took this guy to make me realize that muscular shoulder blades work as a real turn-on for me as well. And you would be hard pressed to find a sexier ass in the business. We gays have long experience in filtering out the girls and the apparent heterosexuality of our objects of affection, and it gets even easier when the reward is this great.

In December, Vanessa also was quoted as labeling Zac a girlie man, constantly obsessing over his fitness and looks. This is great news to the queer community in three ways (and counting): 1) The ‘girlie’ quotes give new life to the rumors that Zac is a closeted gay; 2) obsessive training would make for even sexier photo-ops in the future; and 3) does this mean that his relationship to Vanessa is nearing the end – could he soon be up for grabs?

Happy Holidays!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments