This ad appeared in adsoftheworld.com for oxydo, an Italian eyewear manufacturer. I don't like the ad. I don't like the series of ads. They don't mean anything to me. But it's fashion, so what the hell - it's supposed to make you look at it, and make the product look good. So here are a couple of pretty boys wearing nice frames. And one has a typewriter theme, which always attracts me as a typewriter enthusiast. Okay BBDO Italy got me to pay attention. I even went and looked at framesdirect.com to see what kind of frames they had here. So I guess the damn ads worked.
Still, I ain't gonna look like either of theses models. Now if these models came with the frames.... Of course, in the ad below, while the guy is pretty, the ad suggests he's not real on any number of levels. And playing with him would be rather mechanical. Okay, enough.
The Flag of the city state of Singapore was designed by committee. It had to satisfy the Muslim population, so there's a crescent moon in it. It also had to satisfy the Chinese population, so it is both red and has stars. As flags, and compromises go, it's not bad. But recently the swim team from Singapore, competing in the Asia Games unconsciouly made clear the connection between nationalism and phallocentrism when they used the design of the flag for their swim trunks.
The always conservative and rather Victorian government has expressed outrage at the design, calling it inappropriate and lacking dignity. Some have called it obscene. Of course, I can only recall the motto of the Order of the Garter: Honi soit qui mal y pense, which means "the evil belongs to him who thinks it is evil." Sort of a medieval understanding of the psychological law of projection.
Certainly these swim suits say something about projection, but just what is projecting, well, I leave that up to you. I think the crescent moon looks like a horn, among other things, which also has phallic implications.
As a fashion statement, if the government of Singapore were smarter, they'd recognize they have a hot new export on their hands, and instead of calling out the team, they should be thanking them — and gearing up to sell these swim suits in stores worldwide. Or at least in Chelsea and Hells Kitchen.
Actor Erik Fellows wanders through the desert without a care how the sun will damage his skin. Why? Because he has the anti oxidant power of POM Wonderful. Ahem.
Okay, let me say I have been a customer. I actually seed pomegranates every week and put them on my cereal (along with blueberries). I drink pomegranate juice. I do this because there is anecdotal evidence for prostate health. However, last week the FTC finally woke up to its responsibilities and came down on POM for what they said were unsubstantiated claims. And heaven knows, POM does do its best to have people believe that their product will help protect men from prostate cancer. That it's 40% as effective as Viagra. Well, I think Erik Fellows on my TV screen (or anywhere in my home) would obviate the need for Viagra.
Now that POM is having trouble with their health claims, they've created some videos that get to the sexual potency claims without saying anything directly. Though in one ad they allude to the fruit's mythical status as an aphrodisiac. They also allude to the claims they can't make by saying "backed by modern science," but they don't say what claim is being backed up. This is classic weasel wording.
When I first started as a copywriter, I remember working on Cascade dish detergent. You know, it gets dishes VIRTUALLY spotless. Not spotless, virtually spotless. Almost. Because they can't make the full claim legally. UNSURPASSED is another weasel work: it means that the product being sold is equal to the competition — it's a parity product. The POM videos are beautiful examples of weasel wording.
These videos are beautifully shot. They use mythic imagery and eroticism to make the emotional association to the claims they can no longer say legally. And I suspect if POM had introduced their product with these video spots they would have become award winners, and given POM a classy image. They may yet do so. The spots certainly have what it takes to win some awards.
But nowadays, I get Marco Polo brand pomegranate juice. It costs a lot less, and isn't as sweet. And I know that unlike Persephone, even though I consume hundreds of pomegranate seeds in a week, I'm no prisoner of Hades.
An Essay on the Takashi Miike film: Big Bang Love Juvenile A
The film Big Bang Love, Juvenile A starts with a monologue
that is consciously filmic – it opens with a clap board and a man reading from
what might be a script, yet sounds like a treatise on the physics of time, a
philosophical meditation on the past and the future as waves of light seen from
space at different points thus allowing the viewer to see back almost all the
way to the Big Bang as well as into the future.
The opening “narrator” explains that this point in
time/space where the past and future can be seen is also an experience of
synesthesia, when the senses merge so that you can taste colors and smell
shapes. And it is ultimately the experience of the Divine beyond time, the
at-one-ment where/when all time is simultaneous. The “narrator” explains that
it is in this place, where the veil of time has been ripped from our narrow
view of reality that the story we are about to witness in this film of“sad young men from a time that has
lost something” occurs.
From here, Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, the deliciously homoerotic
film by Takashi Miike, shifts the scene not directly to the story just
described, but to another kind of prologue. We go from the opening film set to
a place out of time and space — the world of men and divine masculine energy.
We see only an old man and a young boy. The old man is a sage, who instructs
the boy on how to encounter this divine masculine energy, take it in, make it
his and become one with it, thus becoming a man himself in the process.
The ritual is simple, and if you have read Men,
Homosexuality and the Gods by Ronald Long, you will recognize this ritual as
one practice by the Sambians of Papua, New Guinea: sacred fellatio. In that
culture, a pre-pubescent boy, in order to become a man, fellates post-pubescent
boys until he himself is able to ejaculate. At which point then he becomes the
inseminator of masculinity to those younger than himself. Among the Sambians,
this practice stops for the young men once they marry a woman. Presumably they
no longer have any same-gender sexual relations. In this culture, it is truly
ritualized as “a stage they are going through,” and an essential ritual at
that.
A variant of this ritual is described in the 2nd
prologue of Big Bang Love Juvenile A to a young boy who must choose a man from
his village whose masculine energy he wishes to take in and emulate. You can
see the man he chooses at the top of this post — and in the opening sequence
the dance of this tattooed avatar (and I use this word in its truly original
Hindu meaning of a deity that takes human incarnation) of masculinity you have
an approximation of the power of such an act when connected to living ritual.
And in his dance you may recognize the atavistic influences of this ritual on
the dance floor in a gay club, where dancing men stripped of their shirts and covered
in tattoos that have been stripped of true ritual meaning act out their
unconscious need for homoerotic spiritual transcendence. This is in fact the
dilemma of the circuit party dance floor ritual: it is a celebratory rite of
manhood that has been split off from the container of true religious ritual in
its finest sense. And without a ritual container, it is not wonder many in the
world of the circuit party seek divine connection through the Dionysian world
of drugs and sex that ultimately consumes them.
The ritual of sacred oral sex in this film stops just short
of the sexual act itself. Though the old man described to the young boy exactly
what will happen:
“He will teach you what to do…and finally he will aim for
your throat, releasing his manhood. For ages we have become men in this manner.
Handing down manly vigor to our descendants.”
From this scene we are rocketed into yet another timeless
place that is simultaneously recognizable as a classic B movie situation: the
prison drama. And the young boy and young man from the previous ritual scene
now seem to be re-incarnated as two young men entering prison together, both
for separate crimes of murder. Tattoos appear and reappear. Walls and bars that
demarcate the prison are both solid and merely indicated by chalk on the floor
from scene to scene to indicate the existential nature of the subject matter at
hand.
The film is also takes the film conventions of the “police procedural”
mystery as two detectives try to solve a murder that takes place in the prison.
Like most of Takashi Miike’s films, Big Bang Love Juvenile A is filled with disturbing
violence. While in the story, ultimately the true murderer is exposed, the film
does not answer the many philosophical questions it raises — because to answer
those questions would be to do violence to the quest each young man must face
in his rite of passage as he confronts the divine masculine and assimilates its
energy into his life.
As a gay man, experiencing the divine masculine through the
sacred and shamanic traditions of same-gender love is an important subject for
me. Because love — emotional and spiritual love when experienced together in
physical expression with the beloved — is one gateway to heaven. When these
three are split off from each other, and their connection is denied by society
— when there is no social and ritual container that recognizes the (w)holiness
of this expression — those who step into this space without a guide may find
instead a gate to the hell of compulsive sex. (Of course, both heaven and hell
are expressions of divine energy, just as Brahma and Shiva are twin poles of
creation and destruction. And both are ultimately expressions of Brahman, the
infinite and eternal oneness. Or the Ayn Sof as the Kabbalists would call it.)
In the act of love — the “small bang” — we seek to
experience that oneness of the moment before the Big Bang.
(Italo Calvino, in “All At One Point” his Cosmicomics short
story of the moment just before the Big Bang there is still separateness, a
universe full of diverse characters described as “packed like sardines.”)
I seem to digress. But those who read this blog with any
irregular regularity (given my irregular postings) are used to this.
Big Bang Love Juvenile A brings together all these strands
of meaning for me — wrapped up in my love of Japanese culture (and Japanese men).
And to be certain, it also raises questions about the divine feminine and how
men relate to it. It looks at the penetrative spirit of warrior culture and its
relationship to men who enjoy the receptive role. I highly recommend this film
for any gay man who thinks about the questions raised here. As I also recommend
reading Men, Homosexuality and the Gods by Ronald Long.
Below you can see the entire 9 minute opening sequence —
from the clap board monologue through the ritual and dance to the prison murder
—or you can follow it as a link to youtube where you can see it full screen.
The Italian film, Il Cumpleano, in English called David's Birthday was today's stunning hit at the festival. Musically rich, dramatically layered and nuanced relationships played like a symphony with each motif reflecting with a jewel like intensity the central passionate relationship of the film.
The plot in short: two straight couples rent a house at the shore together. After a time, the 18 year old son of one couple arrives from his studies in the U.S. The other man hasn't seen the boy since he was 18. They see each other again and the first thing David, the young man says is "You used to hold me in your arms." And looking at Tyago Alves, the actor, well, anyone would want to do that now. But forget his beauty — because while stunning, beauty alone does not make a great film. This movie has everything. And runs across the full ranges of emotions.
It will repeat again Sunday due to popular demand: at NewFest Sunday June 6th at 3pm. Go see it. You'll be glad you did.
The
LGBT Film Festival in New York has a program of shorts under the theme Singing,
Dancing, Waiting. Who loves short shorts? I certainly do. Especially if there’s
a film about cute go-go boys.
Okay,
so this fun little film is about the heavy subjects of body image, body fascism
and fantasy
in the gay male community. Except that it’s sweet, funny and filled
with self knowledge and compassion. Not to mention hot go go dancing boys: See the trailer below.
Another
film on the program is one I wrote about last year: EZ Heeb, from Ali Coterill,
star and director of Fagette, which I loved when it screened at NewFest a
couple of years back. It's pure queer Jewish fun. Buddhist I don't know. But queer Jewish? Yup.
There
aren’t a lot of places you can see films like this with an appreciative
audience, and a chance to meet the filmmakers, who are often there. Ali Coterill will be that's for sure.
The Singing, Dancing, Waiting program plays on Sunday June 5th
at 2:30pm. You can buy your tickets at the LGBT Community Center on 13th
Street, at the SVA Theater on 23rd Street, or online at NewFest.org.
NewFest 2010, the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in New York (or more accurately New York’s LGBT Film Festival) has just posted their movie schedule.
There’s a great line up of gay movies with cute boys and hot men. Not to mention sizzling stories, provocative documentaries and men in sexy shorts (short films that is).
So with so many movies to choose from, how can you know what to see? My taste is entirely subjective, but here’s part 1 of my quick overview of the must-see movies for gay men (more will follow tomorrow).
I wanted to share my top picks with you now, since tickets go on sale exclusively to members on Monday, May 17th. If you want to buy your NewFest tickets this next week, you’ve got to be a member. And there are some really hot films this year, so if you can join rather than wait, I say go for it.
Must-see movies for gay men:
David’s Birthday: A hot Italian story about a jaw-droppingly sexy 18 year old boy whose hormones awaken suppressed desires on a family beach vacation — I you liked Call Me By Your Name, think of this as a similar story from the adult’s point of view.
I Killed My Mother: Lets start with the shallow — lead actor 20 year old Xavier Dolan is such a sexy boy with pouty lips it’s stunning to discover he is also the writer and director of this award winning film debut. Award winning? Over 30 awards internationally, including 3 at Cannes last year. It’s a great movie about the tension between a young man coming into his sexuality and the tension it creates in his close relationship with his mother. Intense. Funny. Moving. Go.
Is It Just Me? Cyrano de Bergerac for the modern online age, with gay men. Need I say more? Cute guys, sweet romantic story, go-go boys, muscles and true love. Go and feel good falling in love.
Release: What kind of release are we talking about here? Well, this is a prison movie. And for those of you who miss your Oz fantasies, this movie tackles a relationship between a prison guard and a jailed priest that other inmates suspect was guilty for molesting boys. A film both violent and spiritual, it’s going to be an intense experience.
Boys Will Be Boys: If you like cute boys in shorts, you’ll see them. But lets be serious for a moment. Some of these shorts explore important stories that don’t often get told, which is why I love NewFest and support lgbt film. One film, Billy and Aaron is about the African American jazz composer Billy Strayhorn and the consequences in his life of living openly as a gay man the 1940s. That’s a lot of drama to pack into ten minutes. And that’s why I love short film. When done right, it’s powerful. Powerfully moving, or funny, or provocative. And the shorts in this program run the full range. You can be sure I’ll be in the audience for these films.
By the way, you can see trailers for many of the films at the NewFest 2010 YouTube channel.
And check back here tomorrow for part 2 of my cheat sheet of top picks for gay men.
The image of Marilyn Monroe standing above the subway grate as a gust a air blows her dress up high is an American cultural icon of the 20th Century. Nicholas Roeg's film, Insignificance, opens with the the filming of this famous scene in The Seven Year Itch re-imagined from the POV of the film crew — and the man under the grating who turned on the fan. Roeg's film, far from camp, is among other things a meditation on the prison of sexism: my favorite scene in that film is when Monroe, with the aid of toys bought at F.A.O Schwarz, explains the theory of relativity to its author, Albert Einstein.
In the ad below, this image is appropriated once again, in the service of selling Dean's Scotch:
Created by a team at Scholz & Friends NRW in Germany, their explanation, at Adsoftheworld.com notes that:
"Dean’s Whisky is especially mild. Which is why it appeals not only to
rugged guys. The advertisement’s unusually humorous, feminine look and
feel are designed to arouse the interest of a new target group and
raise awareness of Dean’s Whisky above and beyond its loyal customer
base."
Arouse the interest? Who is this new target base? Is this ad running at gay magazines in Germany? In women's fashion magazines? Inquiring minds want to know.
Scotch is one of the few hard liquors that retains an aura of masculine privilege. This might have the effect of undermining their image with the base customer. This isn't to say that I don't like the ad. I think it's hilarious and playful. The image of a man in a regimental kilt uniform is hardly fey. There is every possibility that the core consumer for this product is secure enough so that if they saw this ad they'd laugh. Then again, because this is a "mild" Scotch, it might not have very much of a base with the traditional Scotch drinker, so that an effort like this won't hurt.
I wonder what Marilyn would make of it though. Or what she'd make of the photographs of Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura. I first saw an exhibit of his self portraits at the Saatchi Gallery in London: images of the artist in drag as Marilyn, Audrey Hepburn, Garbo, Liza Minelli. You can see the photos on the gallery site, where the question is asked:
"Morimura is more than just art's most famous drag queen. Dealing
with issues of cultural and sexual appropriation he is constantly
exploring ideas of image consumption, identity and desire: Can Brigitte
Bardot be as innocently flirtatious with angular Japanese features?
Would Marilyn Monroe be as sexy if she was Japanese - and a man?"
Having lived in Japan where I both enjoyed and endured drag acts where these Western film icons were portrayed by Japanese men, I was less interested in the questions posed above than the questions around Japanese identity and the effect of Hollywood and American cultural dominance on the traditional Japanese sense of beauty. I am curious about what the reaction to images is in the debate/discussion about the feminization of Asian men in the West within the Asian and gay Asian communities.
Within the discussion of constructed femininity, Morimura throws a light on the minstrelsy of Marilyn; how her image was just as much a creation out of the fantasies of men as Thomas D. Rice's blackface Jumpin' Jim Crow was a creation out of the fantasies of white men in the 19th Century of black men.
Good grief, I hope to God I am not turning into a queer theorist. Ewww.
The big China story this
week is Google blowing the whistle on cyberspying and censorship. This is of
personal interest to me because I chat online with a gay Chinese man in Chengdu
every week, and there are subjects he doesn’t know about, and things he doesn’t
have access to.
Once I found myself cutting and pasting the sentences from a
censored story into the chat window so he would know what I was writing about.
But of course, this was risky business and he made it clear he didn’t want me
to do that in the future — our conversation is simply about gay life in the US,
since in Chengdu it isn’t anywhere near as open as it seems to be in Beijing,
where this week, what is billed as an officially sanctioned male beauty pageant (you can see a video of these shirtless young men here). I suspect my friend in Chengdu can't get to this video link however.
Late Breaking Development That Should Be No Surprise: Police Shut Down The Pageant — Full Story Here.
That's a sea change from
just a few years back when homosexuality was a criminal offense. Bu then, in a
country where a one child policy and the preference for male children has led
to a male/female ratio that makes it hard for a straight guy to find a wife,
taking the pressure off gay men from marrying as cover just might help a
little. In fact, it also helps take some pressure off the regime, since a
country with several million frustrated young men has got to feel like a powder
keg no matter who is in power.
I have no idea what's
behind the ruling Communist Party easing up on things in Beijing, but it's
still not easy if you're in the provinces. And I’m not just talking Chengdu.
Mongolia for example. If
you're in NYC this month, stop by the LGBT Center on 13th Street — in the lobby
there is an amazing exhibit documenting the lives of LGBT Mongolians living in
the capital city of Ulaanbaatar.
Beyond the Blue Sky,
created and produced by Brandt Miller, includes amazing portrait photography by
Miller and Mareike Günsche and a film by Miller and Sean Devaney.
The photographs are
intense and dramatic. While some of the men in these photos are shirtless, each of the subjects’ faces covered by a khadag — a
ceremonial scarf made of a sacred blue cloth representing the eternal sky and
used at funerals to wrap the head of the deceased.
Each photo is accompanied
with an oral history — a life story of each subject, transcribed by Miller
— that captures the universal longing all lgbt people feel, that all
people feel: the need for love and intimacy that is not merely recognized, but
celebrated.
Miller, who was in
Mongolia on a Fulbright Fellowship, was a co-founder of the first LGBT Center
in Ulaanbaatar.
The exhibit will be on
view at the NYC LGBT Center on 13th Street through April. If you go
there regularly as I do, take some time to stop and see it all. If you don’t go
to the Center, consider stopping in. There are so many groups that meet there,
and social services provided, it can be easy to overlook the fact that the
Center is indeed a central arts resource for the community too.
Here is a video interview with Miller, followed by the video documentary made with Sean Devaney:
