You know, I don’t think I ever fully articulated how much I enjoyed “A Simple Favor.” It’s probably because it took me until kind of late last year to watch it, well after it’s September 2018 debut in theaters. I caught it on TV once it was finally streaming and was totally sucked into this twisty, turny, trashy, classy, sexy, queer-baity, did I mention sexy already story of deceit, intrigue and really, really, fucking really great suits. So on this Thursday please enjoy the Blake Lively’s impeccable suit game. I could watch her in a tuxedo making a martini over and over and over and, well, you get the idea.
Well, since we’re talking about dream law enforcement/fire responder scenarios, please take 1 minute and 30 seconds out of your day to enjoy the brave women, men and other identifications of the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue. February is LGBT history month in England, and last year the South Yorkshire fire department changed its social media profile pictures to pride flags in support. That brought out the trolls who did their troll thing. So this year, for their pride month, they released this rainbow-filled video response cheekily reading their hate mail. Thank you for your service, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue. You can definitely rescue me anytime.
So, it’s only two episodes in so far, but I rather like “Tommy.” It’s a bit like “The West Wing” of police procedurals – the white liberal dream of what law enforcement can be. Like, I know they’re feeding us the fantasy resolutions to intractable real-world issues, but I’m happy to let them help me dream. Basically, it’s like someone set out to make the political opposite of “Blue Bloods.”
As such it’s definitely striving to be the “wokest” cop show I’ve watched in a while. So far they’ve taken on ICE, deportations, police shootings, political corruption, sex trafficking, PTSD, suicide, sexism, sexual harassment, and I know I’m missing some other Hot Topic. And, again, it’s only been two episodes. If nothing else it sure knows how to pack a lot of plot into each installment.
But the good news there is more than just progressive takes on hot political topics (not that there’s anything wrong with that). It also allows the always excellent Edie Falco to bring her unassuming competence to the role of Chief Abigail “Tommy” Thomas , the first female chief of police for Los Angeles – who also happens to be a newly out lesbian.
The pilot episode made Tommy’s sexuality one of the – many – major plot points. And it even lets her get convincingly flirted with by a woman (and, y’all were right, the elevator lady was definitely not Katrina Lenk). But, alas, her sexuality is nowhere to be seen in the second episode. Still earlier reports have promised her and Lenk’s characters would become something of an item this season. So that’s something to look forward to.
If these stills from the March 5 episode are any indication, we won’t have to wait that long.
Also, damn, looks like Tommy suddenly got a lot less tired.
All in all, this feels like a solid CBS show, which is no way meant as an insult. It’s just surprising.
Well, it’s President’s Day in these here United States. As we all know all too well, in our nation’s history there has never been a female president. Just 45 (almost entirely white) dudes. Heck, we’ve never even had a female vice president. And here we are again this year, with the likelihood of even having a female nominee still very much in the air. *deep endless sigh* As always, someone will say, “But gender shouldn’t matter, may the best person win.” Sure, of course. But if gender really doesn’t matter, why has the best person never been a woman in the 244-year history of our country? Yeah, really makes you think – that sexism is still very alive and very well in America.
p.s. Not that anyone asked, but I’ve decided I’m all in with Elizabeth Warren in the primaries Yes, yes – I will vote blue no matter who (though, for real, I will have to grit my damn teeth for some of them). But Liz, yeah, now there’s a president.
Sometimes you just need a little reminder that very different, totally separate entities can still coexist peacefully. And, even more important, that they can actually like and help one another. Here a coyote and a badger use a culvert to cross a highway through the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. The video of this wonderful, playful interaction was posted by the nonprofit Peninsula Open Space Trust which works to preserve land for people and animals to enjoy forever.
“We know from scientific studies and Native American records that coyotes and badgers have been known to hunt together. But this is the first documentation (that we know of) where a coyote and badger use a human-made structure to travel together safely.
This video was captured recently as part of our research to better understand how wildlife moves across the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. We have more than 50-remote sensor cameras helping us capture scenes like this which we use to inform our land conservation work.
While badgers have been seen on occasion during our research, they are one of the more rare species for us to capture on camera. Since they prefer to spend most of their time underground, we don’t get a glimpse of them all that often. So, seeing one with a coyote moving through a small space like this is very rare.
With the information we’re collecting from this research, we are building a robust data set to identify the areas where wildlife can safely move across roadways as well as the areas that need to be enhanced for safer crossing. It’s all a part of our work to build a network of protected open space, something we’ve been working on since our founding in 1977.
It’s a real treat when we get videos like this – ones that show some personality and remind us of the relationships between these wild animals and how playful they can be. For more great wildlife videos, check out our recent post that goes into the details of this latest research.”
Right, so if a coyote and a badger - two very different predators - can get along, show mutual respect and act in ways that benefit them both certainly us dumb humans can try a little harder to do the same. Or, if nothing else, perhaps some not-so-dumb human can turn this into a movie. In which case, TAKE MY DUMB HUMAN MONEY. Happy weekend and Valentine’s Day all.
You may have noticed in yesterday’s (very very belated; sorry about that) post, there was no mention of the one and only Sarah Paulson. But, don’t worry, while Ms. Paulson and her Lover Holland (looking very American Lesbian Gothic, I might add) did not attend the ceremonies, they certainly made it out on the town that night. And they certainly made a splash at the Vanity Fair party. Or should I say Sarah made a splash while flirted with basically everyone. But, you know, in a fun way and not a threatening to her relationship with Holland Taylor way. So, as the youths of today would say, here are all the receipts of Sarah’s Oscar flirts.
Sarah & Holland
Duh, of course she’s gonna flirt with her lady.
Sarah & Elizabeth Banks
Bosley is clearly smitten and wants to sign Sarah up for the Angels.
Sarah & Whitney Cummings
Part flirting, part checking each other’s teeth for lettuce.
Sarah & Joan Collins
Is it weird I want Joan to throw Sarah into a pool? Like have I found my kink?
Sarah & Amanda Peet
Please, like lesbians and their straight BFFs don't flirt sometimes.
Sarah & Judith Light
Watching these two flirt counts as a religious experience – in the gay community.
Sarah & Judith & Katie Couric
That Sarah, always looking to add a third.
Sarah & Kathryn Hahn
How have they never worked/flirted together before?
Sarah & Kathryn & Janet Mock
See what I was saying about the third?
Sarah & Joni Mitchell
Shoot your shot, Sarah Paulson, shoot your shot.
Told ya it was coming. So outside of Janelle Monae representing for queer black artists to start the shows, the Oscars were a pretty straight affair. At least, what we saw on television was pretty straight. As we all know, hand out a few shiny trophies and let the champagne flow and suddenly Straight Gals Acting Like Gay Gals are everywhere – or at least everywhere in the eye of the beholder. But, as has been a welcome trend these last few years, there also actual Gay Gals Acting Like Gay Gals. Queer women came out in their finest this Oscar season. So it appears even lesbians and bisexual women are attracted to golden naked men. Who knew.
Brie Larson, Sigourney Weaver & Gal Gadot
I’m not really a threesome person, but YES PLEASE LET ME WATCH.
Laura Dern & Renee Zellweger
Bridget Jones’s Later-in-Life Lesbianism
Scarlett Johansson & Florence Pugh
It’s so unfair they’ve cast Florence Pugh and Rachel Weisz in the new “Black Widow” movie, because now I have to see it.
Geena Davis & Sandra Oh
No, they’re not doing anything particularly gay. But they’re Geena Davis and Sandra Oh standing together in beautiful dresses. So, duh, gay interest.
Natalie Portman
No, Natalie isn’t doing anything particularly gay. But she has the names of all the female directors snubbed this year for the Oscars embroidered on her coat hem in a sign of feminist solidarity and as we all know any feminism worth a damn is intersectional which means it would include the concerns of POC and the LGBTQ community. So, duh, gay interest.
Regina King
No, Regina isn’t doing anything particularly gay. But have you seen her arms and that dress? So, duh, gay interest.
Salma Hayek & Penelope Cruz
I’ve had dreams that started like this, Part I.
Margot Robbie & Charlize Theron
The strong top energy coming off Charlize as she watches over Margot reading her program is palpable.
Jessica Alba & Sofía Vergara
I’ve had dreams that started like this, Part II.
Greta Gerwig & Saoirse Ronan
I’m usually not cool with maestros getting handsy with their ingénue’s, but you know what? I’ll allow it.
Jane Fonda & Olivia Colman
Women of a certain age can totally get it.
GGALGG: Oscars Edition
Janelle Monae & Billy Porter
It’s like we’re witnessing the coolest wizard convention in the universe.
Beanie Feldstein & Kaitlyn Dever
Out queer actress who played straight with her straight actress friend who played gay.
Janet Mock, Lena Waithe & Rashida Jones
Proof that LGBTQ people totally still like straight people.
Tessa Thompson & Amandla Stenberg
Just two incredibly talented, out, black queer actresses dancing at an Oscars party in the year 2020. Sometimes, it’s almost like we are living in the future.
After my 10,069th “Carol” rewatch last week, I sat back wistfully and dreamed of what a sequel continuing the love story of Carol Aird and Therese Belivet would look like. And then The Series of Tubes delivered with these images. Granted, they’re not actually images of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara filming “Carol 2: Lezectric Boogaloo.” Instead they’re filming “Nightmare Alley,” director Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham and subsequent 1947 film starring Tyrone Power.
“In ‘Nightmare Alley,’ an ambitious young carny (Bradley Cooper ) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is. The carnival cast includes carnival worker Molly (Rooney Mara), head barker Clem (Willem Dafoe), and Ron Perlman as Bruno the Strongman. Richard Jenkins is part of the high society crowd as wealthy industrialist Ezra Grindle.”
Yeah, yeah, whatever. CATE AND ROONEY TOGETHER AGAIN. CAROL AND THERESE 4-EVER.
Now, since this film appears to be set in the late 1940s, this could technically be a prequel to the 1950’s-era “Carol.” But, come one, how perfect would it be if Carol and Therese joined the circus and started scamming unsuspecting men out of all of their money?
Well, we can dream, can’t we?
p.s. Cate sure is getting in touch with her inner villain a lot these days...and I don’t hate it.
Well now, that was something. I’m genuinely, genuinely thrilled for “Parasite.” South Korea in the house! It only took 92 years for a foreign-language film win best picture. Yet somehow it became the night’s biggest, and most deserving, winner (taking home best picture, best director, best original screenplay and best international film) without earning a single acting nomination. Crazy how that works.
But, it was that kind of night for the Oscars. A night with more jokes/references to #OscarsSoWhite than there were non-white nominees. An Oscars where Natalie Portman wore the name of snubbed female directors on her literal collar – cape collar no less, but they were still nowhere to be seen in the directing category. So, yeah, the white guilt was palpable. And, WTF was up with Eminem singing an 18-year old song for no good reason?
The good news is the night had some deserving winners and a couple fairly gay moments. Like when self –described “black queer artist” Janelle Monae opened the show as a gender-swapped Mr. Rogers and then proceeded to cosplay a movie where a man gets burned alive in a bear costume and dueting with the supercalifabulistic Billy Porters.
The other was, of course, Laura Dern winning her first Oscar. Now I’m sure you’re thinking, but Laura isn’t gay and didn’t play a gay character to earn her best supporting statue for “Marriage Story.” No, she didn’t. But she did play Ellen’s love interest in her historic coming-out episode, “The Puppy Episode,” and then later struggled to find work and was essentially blacklisted in the business. I know, liberal Hollywood and all. Well, look what happens when you do hire her.
So, thoughts? My other favorite film of the year, “Little Women,” was absolutely robbed in the adapted screenplay category (and, you know, freaking directing). Oh, and don’t worry, the SLAGG is coming later this week. I promise.
SPOILERS:If you haven’t watched the finale of “The Good Place,” seriously what is wrong with you? But also you should stop reading. Also, sorry, for whatever reason SAP is turned on in the above scene. But, you know, it’s still beautiful beyond words – even with a few extra words thrown in.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the final episode of “The Good Place” since it aired. I watched it again immediately afterward, and cried just as much – possible even more. What a beautiful, hilarious and profound way to end four gloriously oddball seasons of television.
I’ve always been a practical person, not regularly beset by bouts of existential dread or philosophical musings. But over the years, and particularly in the last four years, I’ve started pondering more and more about the nature of human goodness. As in, is goodness inherently human or must it be taught and nurtured?
“The Good Place” comes down firmly on the side of the latter. It posits that human existence is so complex and fraught with so many moral pitfalls – both large and small – that it is nearly impossible to live up to our own standards or really almost any standard. But we all have the best chance of being good if we have friends and family who make us feel loved and supported and who work to bring out the best in us.
The other great message of “The Good Place” – besides that you should never buy the supplemental insurance when renting a car – is that life only has meaning because it ends. Indeed, endings give meaning to almost everything in existence. A great book. A great TV show. A great life. That we are here a finite period of time is the essence of humanity. We are born, we live, we die – always in that order.
What we do in that period of time, how we choose to spend our life, that’s what makes the difference. I don’t believe there is one right way to be a good person. And being good should not be conflated with being nice or polite or courteous. You can curse, you can swear, you can protest, you can even be rude at times and still be a good person. Just like you can be the most polite-in-person human on the planet, but that doesn’t inherently make you good.
In fact, niceness is used in many ways to mask actual harm. We should strive to all be civil to one another. But civility does not mean feigning outrage at, say, a woman tearing up of piece of paper instead being outraged by a man who puts children in cages, rips families apart, bans all people from 13 countries just because they’re Muslim, continues to roll back LGBTQ rights and protections, fills his own pockets with taxpayer money to go golfing and has literally been impeached. But I digress.
I believe the bedrock of human goodness should be compassion. It’s the ability to think beyond yourself, even beyond just your family. It’s our capacity for kindness.
Compassion is what is missing from so much of our current political discourse. Well, that and the truth – particularly from our so-called president and his bootlicking Republican co-conspirators. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve woken, unable to fall back asleep, and started to think about why so many people would embrace and vote for such a truly selfish, obviously narcissistic, endlessly corrupt and deeply hateful human being.
These are people who get up in the morning, kiss their families, go to work, pet their dogs and at least on the surface would seem perfectly pleasant (though definitely not all of them). Yet they vote in a way so diametrically opposed to being compassionate to their fellow humans and, in many cases, diametrically opposed to their own betterment. It boggles the mind.
The older I get, the more personal politics becomes. Instead of growing more conservative, as is the conventional wisdom of a political lifecycle, I’ve become more progressive precisely because I take it so personally. But then it is always personal to marginalized people, as a matter of basic survival. Yet so many have the privilege to consider their politics “nothing personal.”
As I’ve gotten older I’ve also come to the conclusion that money truly is the root of all evil. This is not to say that all rich people are evil. And, believe you me, I’d love some more money. But the pursuit of money, above all else, should be considered evil. It leads to the granting of personhood to corporations, whose only motivation is the hoarding of more money. It leads to the exploitation of our resources, workers and the whole damn planet.
And perhaps money’s most insidious effect is how it insulates us from our fellow humans. The more money you have, the further from any suffering you can live, the less you care about the suffering of others. If you have money and your life is good, but your neighbor is poor and her life is bad – well, who cares. Again, your life is good.
I’m not advocating for the ends of money and wholesale realigning our societal structure per se. But you have to wonder, how long the unchecked greed of late-stage capitalism can continue until there’s nothing left?
If, as “The Good Place” suggests, time with the people we love is the true heaven, then money’s only true function and use should be to give us more of that – all of us.
I don’t know. The world is a lot sometimes. The bad seems to endlessly triumph over the good. But in the end, no matter how much money we have or how much good or bad we’ve done, we are all just water and stardust. And, if only we have the will and guidance to try to care – endless kindness. Thanks for letting me ruminate on existence with you, and thank you all for reading these past 14 years. It means more to me than anything money could buy. Happy weekend, all.
For no reason in particular, fuck the GOP. Fuck everyone in the Trump administration who promotes his endless racism, stupidity and corruption. Fuck those 52 Republican senators who abdicated their duty to protect the Constitution and perform necessary checks on the Executive Branch’s powers. (Mitt Romney can stay, but is it really heroic to not actively contribute to the destruction of our democracy and actually do your damn job?) Fuck the MAGA crowd whose only joy is causing pain. And fuck this infernal election year which is only 37 days old but already feels like 37 years. Or, if all this is tl:dr, please allow these lovely Betty White and others to express my sentiments exactly. I guess a picture really is worth a thousand fuck yous.
Lena Headey
Cersei flipping her own High Sparrow.
Ellen Page
Tiny Canadian FU.
Gillian Anderson
The fuck you is out there.
Regina Hall & Tracee Ellis Ross
BFFFUS
Katherine Barrell
Office Haught says you have the right to fuck off.
Kristen Stewart
K-Stew actually looks happiest when she’s flipping someone off.
Lucy Liu
Fucking off is elementary, dear Watson.
Diane Warren & Helen Mirren
That’s Dame Fuck Off to you.
Carrie Fisher
Nothing but respect for my Princess/General.
I was generally excited about the “Birds of Prey” movie because more women kicking butt the better. But after The Gail Simone (who wrote the most beloved era of the comics) gave it her wholehearted blessing I am super excited for “Birds of Prey.” And now, after seeing this fight sequence (the same one Gail visited the set for) I am super duper excited for “Birds of Prey.” Why, you might ask? Well, it’s all about that hair tie.
This, kittens, is why it matters having women in front of and behind the camera - and in every step of the process. We provide a perspective that most men simply can’t. And, you know, we’re 51 percent of the goddamn population. So there’s that.
“Birds of Prey” has a female writer (Christina Hodson, who also wrote the least terrible Transformers movie “Bumblebee”) and a female director (Cathy Yan, who also directed one of the first movie I ever saw Sandra Oh in, “Last Night”*) and a female producer (star Margot Robbie who is Margot Robbie).
One might say, come on, it’s just a hair tie. But it’s more than that. It’s recognizing that the female perspective - indeed all perspectives other than the straight white male default - are different and valuable and make things not only more realistic, but also more interesting.
*This is what happens when you Google too quickly and don’t check the date. Wrong “Last Night,” indeed.
Looks like we’re gonna see Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan’s Victorian-era fossil hunting lesbian love story (wow, say that three times fast) in the relatively near future. U.S. indie distributor Neon has picked up the period piece, about real-life paleontologist/fossil hunter Mary Anning and a young woman she meets (played by Saoirse) along the English seaside.
According to Deadline, the film is:
“...set in 1800s England, as acclaimed but unrecognized fossil hunter Mary Anning (Winslet) works alone on the rugged Southern coastline. With the days of her famed discoveries behind her, she now searches for common fossils to sell to tourists to support herself and her ailing mother. When a wealthy visitor entrusts Mary with the care of his wife Charlotte (Ronan), she cannot afford to turn his offer down. Proud and relentlessly passionate about her work, Mary initially clashes with her unwelcome guest, but despite the distance between their social class and personalities, an intense bond begins to develop, compelling the two women to determine the true nature of their relationship.”
According to my eyes, the “nature of their relationship” involved the time-tested lesbian stockphoto tradition of touching foreheads lovingly. And, hopefully, smoochies. So many smoochies.
Now, I know - this is another May-December (or at very least May-late October) lesbian relationship movie. But, hey, it worked for “Carol.”
But it’s not the 19-year age difference between between the actresses that has raised some eyebrows as much as the protestations of a distant relatives of Anning’s that she was totally not The Gay. What we do know is she was born the daughter of a poor cabinetmaker and did not receive much of a formal education or credit - at least at the time - for her contributions to the field of paleontology and the ancient sea monsters she unearthed. She never married and never had children, dying at the age of 47.
“After seeing queer history be routinely ‘straightened’ throughout culture, and given a historical figure where there is no evidence whatsoever of a heterosexual relationship, is it not permissible to view that person within another context?...Would these newspaper writers have felt the need to whip up uninformed quotes from self-proclaimed experts if the character’s sexuality had been assumed to be heterosexual?”
I mean, good points. The thing about history is is matters who gets to tell it, it matters so much. I have no idea if Mary Anning was queer or not, but it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to imagine that she was.
So I can’t wait to see “Ammonite,” which appears to be headed for an award season release by Neon. It’s the same film company behind last year’s sumptuous lesbian love story “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” So, if it’s anywhere near that quality I’d say we’re in for a treat. And Kate’ butch Victorian look is quite something. Maybe her and Gentleman Jack can become poker buddies, is all I’m saying.
