Interlude with the vampire, part 2

March 29, 2014

Recently, Anne Rice announced that she was returning to her most iconic character, the vampire Lestat, with the Oct. 28 publication of “Prince Lestat,” which thrilled me no end.

“Prince Lestat” would immediately follow the events of “The Queen of the Damned,” the third, and I think, the most sensuous book in “The Vampire Chronicles.” It is for me also the most homoerotic of the series, although I think Rice would say these books are instead vampire-erotic since her vampires cannot have sex. Whatever. The point is that in Rice’s work, bloodlust is a metaphor for lust, just as the relationship of the fun-loving Lestat and the depressive (and at times depressing) Louis – as well as that of Daniel, the interviewer in “Interview With the Vampire,” and the vampire Armand – is a metaphor for a gay relationship.

Looking back on it, I realize that these books paved the way for my own foray into homoeroticism with “The Games Men Play” series.

In “Frozen,” Elsa embraces her magical powers as she sings “Let It Go.”

Are men the hotter sex? Or are women just ‘Frozen’?

March 9, 2014

It’s been a week since the Oscars, but Cate Blanchett’s Best Actress acceptance speech is still trending with me. Or rather, Maureen Dowd’s riff on it is.

Blanchett implied that her Oscar win for “Blue Jasmine” proved that films with women at the center aren’t “niche experiences.” Dowd’s March 5 column “Frozen in a Niche?” demonstrated otherwise:

“The percentage of women directing, writing, producing, editing and shooting films has declined since 1998, according to an analysis of the top 250 grossing films of 2013 by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. (The anticipated halo effect from Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman to win a directing Oscar for 2009’s “The Hurt Locker” never happened.)

“The center’s latest report had some stunning stats: Women accounted for 6 percent of directors, 10 percent of writers, 15 percent of executive producers, 17 percent of editors and 3 percent of cinematographers. And women are still more likely to be working on romantic comedies, dramas or documentaries than the top-grossing, teenage-boy-luring animated, sci-fi and horror movies.”

Sound like a niche to me. Mais pourquoi?

Jared Leto, the inside man

March 3, 2014

How great was it to see Jared Leto – who left Hollywood to front a band – win the Best Supporting Oscar for his role as a transgender prostitute in “Dallas Buyers Club”? (Actually, the win was sort of a no-brainer. Hollywood loves to reward actors who transform themselves and stories that have their hearts in the right place.)

Leto seems to have his in the right place, too. Of course, there was plenty of Internet snark about his acceptance speech, in which he told the “dreamers” in Ukraine and Venezuela that we were thinking of them. (Apparently, actors aren’t allowed to be human.) I came late to his speech, but I’m glad I caught the end: "This is for the 36 million people out there who have lost the battle to AIDS.” He concluded, “To those of you who have felt injustice because of who you love and who you are, I stand here with you and for you.”’

As he left the stage, host Ellen DeGeneres shook her head and said, “Beautiful.”’

Jared Leto and the bridge of the imagination

March 1, 2014

If you were to ask me – a woman who considers herself to be a great connoisseur of beautiful men – who is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, I’d have to say Jared Leto. He is it for me (though Johnny Depp is a close second.) I’m not talking beauty plus brains, personality, character or anything else but just sheer physical beauty. It’s no wonder that Oliver Stone cast him as Hephaestion – the love of Alexander the Great’s life – in “Alexander.”

So naturally, I was delighted to see Leto as the frontrunner for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar March 2 for his role as a transgender prostitute in “Dallas Buyers Club.” And just as distressed to see a fatuous Time magazine piece titled “Don’t Applaud Jared Leto’s Transgender ‘Mammy’,” in which Steve Friess likens Leto’s gender portrayal to the racial cliché of Hattie McDaniel’s Mammy in “Gone With The Wind.”

There are so many misguided ideas in this article that it isn’t even funny.

Jason Collins, the gay Jackie Robinson

February 25, 2014

Jason Collins has rejoined the Nets with a difference: He becomes the first openly gay athlete in any of America’s four major sports.

There’s lots of symbolism here: The team now plays in Brooklyn, where Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. The Nets are owned by Mikhail D. Prokhorov, from Russia, which has taken a tough anti-gay stance. And Collins will wear his regular No. 98, in honor of Matthew Shepard, the college student who was murdered for being gay in 1998.

Collins may soon be joined in pro sports by Michael Sam, who’s just come out and is on-target to be drafted by the NFL.

All of which makes me look prescient for publishing “Water Music,” a novel about four gay athletes and how their shifting rivalries color their personal relationships with one another.

Dances with Tara and Johnny

February 23, 2014

The penultimate night of the Sochi Games brought us the Figure Skating Gala, in which the top finishers in the various skating disciplines put on an exhibition that was more relaxed and playful than the competition. In that spirit, NBC invited free-wheeling NBCSN commentators Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir to sit at the big people’s table, as it were, and offer commentary on NBC in prime time. Both Tara and Johnny, who’ve earned raves for their repartee, sported gold sprigs in their hair that Tara said were Sochi flowers. Sidekick Terry Gannon – whom some in the press have dubbed the pair’s chaperone – wore his in his lapel. The hairpieces brought to mind Pauline Kael’s famously acidic review of “Dances With Wolves,” in which she said “Kevin Costner has feathers in his hair and feathers in his head.”

NBC actually showed little of the event in prime time. Among the highlights were Gracie Gold’s sassy salute to Fosse, her hometown of Chicago and “Chicago” with “All That Jazz”; gold medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White’s balletic skate to the Adagio from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2; and Yuna Kim’s simply stunning interpretation of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

More than semi-tough – the brutal ballet of the NFL

February 17, 2014

We take a break from the Olympics to reflect on a disturbing story that led many newspapers and programs Saturday – the report on the hazing of former Miami Dolphin Jonathan Martin, which paints an ugly portrait of homophobia, misogyny, racism and inappropriate touching.

The report concludes that teammate Richie Incognito and his acolytes John Jerry and Mike Pouncey harassed not only Martin but another young offensive lineman and an assistant trainer. Particularly revolting were the sexual comments about Martin’s sister, who has nothing to do with any of this. (Incognito’s lawyer, Mark Schamel, has said the report is replete with errors.) Whatever took place was so unnerving to Martin that he left the team and sought psychiatric help.

What is going on here? In an Op-Ed piece for the Feb. 15 edition of The New York Times, Nicholas Dawidoff, author of “Collision Low Crossers: A Year Inside the Turbulent world of NFL Football,” suggests that homophobia is the sport’s shield against its inherent homoeroticism. Think about it – all those men bending over, passing the ball between their legs, piling on top of one another, often in the most violent ways. Then there’s the intensity of the locker room with its attendant nudity. Read more