FILM SELECTS
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Natalie Portman is flawless in Black Swan (check the trailer)
Check out the Black Swan Trailer below. It doesn’t disappoint as Natalie Portman delivers another gripping performance as a dedicated ballerina who enters into a twisted relationship with a new ballerina(Mila Kunis) threatening to take her lead role in Swan Lake. Directed by Darren Aronofsky ( The Wrestler), this film should be as gritty and moving as we would expect.
There is even a little action between the women in the film. Between the story and the action, I am already certifying this as my new NOTES ON A SCANDAL. If you haven’t seen that film, you must NETFLIX it now.
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The Lesbian Mafia & Glaad Responds to The Kids are All Right
When I heard that Annette Bening and Julianne Moore was staring in a film about a family. I was excited. When I heard that they were going to be an ‘actual’ lesbian couple. I was super excited but what transpires in the film was almost heart breaking on all accounts. I have been grappling with the idea that somehow this film is “authentic”, “ingenious” and “daring”. At least, that is what the critics have been saying.
Lisa Cholodenko has so many accolades and glowing reviews hanging around her neck that she can barely standup when she walks down the street. Entertainment Weekly gave The Kids are All Right an A-. They rarely give A’s. Rarely. What is it that they saw and I didn’t see? I know lesbian families and authentic is not how I would describe this film.
With so few representations of lesbian families on the big screen and this is big. The Kids Are All Right raked in $5 million in limited release. For an indie, Focus Features is pleased as punch now. This is the stuff Oscar nominations are made of: ‘little films’ that make it big. So what happened to the authentic representation.
After years of a lesbian lifestyle, Julianne Moore falls head over heels for her sperm donor. Sadly, I saw it coming. In the script they make him a mirror image of Julianne’s character and so of course, we all gravitate to ourselves? Right? As usual, Hollywood has failed miserably. We have another “authentic” look at “lesbians” and they are all of a sudden fluid in their sexuality. It seems on screen, is the best place for lesbians to realize that somehow this “continuum of sexuality” exists.
After reading the GLAAD article, I realize that there are others that feel the same. The Lesbian Mafia responds to Lisa’s comment on Salon.com. When asked about the film, Lisa says, “I think sexuality at times can be separate from [sexual orientation], and you can have sexual response to opposite genders or same genders. I just don’t see them as inextricably linked. For me personally — there are people who see sexual identity as bound forever, and that there’s no continuum at all. I find that thinking, and the critique that comes from that, really dated. So that bothers me. I feel like the lack of open-mindedness to that idea is really square and dated. So that’s where I’m coming from.”
The Lesbian Mafia notes however, that ”
The only thing that’s “dated” is her hairstyle. Lesbians are not bisexual.
Bisexuality is a valid sexuality, so is being a Lesbian and it’s not going to change because she chose to sell us all down the river in her quest for celebrity. There are a lot of women who call themselves Lesbians these days who aren’t, but are in fact so in love with the “label” that they continue to call themselves a Lesbian when they clearly and obviously are not. No one is “bound” to any label.If a married guy went and had a raging affair with a man then turned around and said he’s straight and it’s “only sex.” We’d all have a good chuckle at his denial. It is no different for Lesbians. In fact it is flagrantly homophobic and misogynist to suggest Lesbians go around sleeping with men as a matter of regular consequence. Sorry but we’re very busy being attracted to women.
Certainly this director has her reasons for coming out guns blazing calling critics “dated” and apparently trying to redefine what it means to be a Lesbian. Hollywood may buy male-fantasy pornographic film, but we don’t. Neither are the majority of Lesbians who are actually Lesbians.
When will Hollywood put actual lesbians on screen? The last movie that made me pleased to be a lesbian was HBO’s If Walls Could Talk 2. There we saw two authentic lesbians. Sharon Stone and Ellen Degeneres made an amazing couple.
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Angelina Jolie’s Salt brings female action heroes back to the surface
Each summer we anticipate the Batman’s and Superman’s of the world. This summer, we anticipate Salt. This blockbuster brings Angelina Jolie back to her “bad azz” ways. If you watched “Wanted”, you would know that Angelina already has the training to be an incredible fighting machine. In Salt, she brings it even stronger with twists and turns that leaves you breathless.
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Bklyn Boi Hood Calendar Showcases Women comfortable in their Masculine Identity
Bklyn Boihood is a community entity whose purpose is to provide visibility and promote empowerment for lesbian, queer, or trans identified studs, doms, butches, AG’s, and boi’s of color with gender presentation on a masculine spectrum. The release of the first annual bklyn boihood calendar is coming. Check out more from the bois
Behind the Scenes Part One: Mobster walks to the shoot with photographer, AJ, A look at the location
Behind the Scenes Part Two: The bois
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Lol: Comedian Luenell reveals the truth behind Perfect Girls
Luenell is appearing at Sizzle Her this year. This Southern belle hails from North Carolina and has appeared in such films as Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. No stranger to self deprecation, Luenell plays a prostitute of the same name, a hooker with a heart of gold. She has also been seen on the BET comedy series, Comicview, and was featured on the MTV series Wild ‘N Out.
This year, she is gracing the stage at SIZZLE MIAMI along with Leslie Jones and hosted by none other than New York’s Harmonica Sunbeam. Work!More Luenell
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Front Line investigates for profit colleges in College Inc
FRONTLINE goes inside the business of higher education and asks “Who’s profiting from your education?” in “College, Inc.,” airing Tuesday, May 4 at 9PM on PBS (check local listings).
The business of higher education is booming. It’s a $400 billion industry fueled by taxpayer money. But what are students getting out of the deal? Critics say a worthless degree and a mountain of debt. Investors insist they’re innovators, widening access to education. FRONTLINE follows the money to uncover how Wall Street and a new breed of for-profit universities are transforming the way we think about college in America. Watch “College, Inc.” on air and online beginning Tuesday, May 4 on PBS (check local listings) and at http://www.pbs.org/frontline/collegeinc
Do you know that there are tuition free colleges?
According to Business Week, there are many alternatives:
They range from an urban college like the Cooper Union in New York’s East Village to Deep Springs College, a remote, all-male school deep in the California desert. Many are specialized institutions, often focusing on engineering, such as the F.W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Mass.; or on music, like the Curtis Institute in Pennsylvania. A handful—the College of the Ozarks or Berea College in Kentucky—have mandatory work-study programs. Perhaps the most well-known of them is the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., which offers free college tuition in exchange for five years of service after graduation.
Even in New York at Cooper Union.
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New Documentary Tackles the Blood Ban [video: feat Alan Cumming]
For Jordan Burbank, Tara Jacobson and Adrienne Deraglia, sitting around waiting is not an option. This year, they have taken up their film camera and creativity to battle and uncover the truth behind the 1983 MSM Blood Ban which regulates that any man that has slept with another man since 1977 CANNOT give blood. Their response is “SAVE” a life, the documentary and “DENIED” The photo campaign which seeks to bring awareness to the inequality to “SAVE A LIFE”. The DENIED Campaign was photographed by Sean Siegel and features Alan Cumming(The Good Wife, The L Word, Gray Matters), Elias Nousiopoulos ( Director), Anthony Rapp ( Rent ), William Frazier, Steve Hannigan (Designer), Dante’ Cosmo Water and many more to come. Take a look at the behind the scenes of the Denied Photo Shoot and see why this movie is RBC Certified.
Visit http://www.savealifemovie.com/denied/ to learn more about the DENIED CAMPAIGN.
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For Faith Love and Forever…new documentary exploring theology and gay marriage
The documentary follows an African-American lesbian couple as they prepare for their marriage all the while defying what the media will not cover. The documentary gives information gathered from The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry; its effectiveness as a tool for ministry; as well as its instructions, theories and motivations as it relates to homosexuality such as how is it expressed, what is taught and how homosexuality is tolerated.
For Faith, For Love, Forever offers its viewers a powerful exploration of the effect that California’s Proposition 8 had pre- and post-Election 2008 on the gay community. The discussion of black gays having a right to marry as a matter of inclusion in the church makes for a most diverse and unique topic.
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Finding Me Truth TRAILER PREMIERES
Roger Omeus premieres the official trailer for Finding me Truth! Fire!
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High Art Director makes new Lesbian Family Film, The Kids Are All Right redefines family
When two children conceived by artificial insemination bring their birth father into their family life, there are changes and adjustments that must be made. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko who brought us the iconic lesbian film, High Art, and starring Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, as the lesbian mothers.
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