Time to boycott Russia's celebration of its bigoted self

I will not be watching Russia's disgusting celebration of itself tomorrow.  The opening ceremonies for the Sochi Games will not be playing on my TV at work, nor at home on Friday night.  I can't bear to watch a celebration of Russia's history knowing full well this is a country that is actively trying to destroy its LGBT citizens with lies and religious bigotry.

The only thing that could make me watch would be news coverage featuring the repeat of some disaster that strikes during the event.  A mechanical failure, hopefully, causing embarrassment to Russian hosts and the bigot himself, Vladimir Putin.

Even better would be a brave protest by some athlete who unfurls a rainbow flag, perhaps.  It would be nice if some enlightened athletes from the enlightened parts of the world don rainbow buttons or symbols that promote equality and dignity amid such utter hypocrisy.

I will tune in over the course of the next two weeks to cheer on Canadian athletes.  Those events will not be about the repulsive host country; they will be about athletes from around the world, including our own country.

I wish Canadians the best of luck as they compete.  I wish all the athletes a great games.

Sad news about Philip Seymour Hoffman...

"Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Oscar for best actor in 2006 for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote in “Capote” and created a gallery of other vivid characters...was found dead Sunday in his Greenwich Village apartment with what law enforcement officials said was a syringe in his arm. He was 46."

What a tragedy!  He was a great character actor who made his mark on cinema and will be remembered for years if not decades.  This is a real loss for everyone who loves cinema and great acting as we will now be denied more of Hoffman's immense talent.

It's sad how hard drugs can take possession of people's lives, as seems to have been the case with Hoffman.  I'm glad I've never tried anything remotely considered "hard" amongst such substances still banned by law.  And I never intend to.

A friend remarked on her Facebook page simply that "drugs are bad...don't do them."  Sure, hard, addictive drugs like heroin, cocaine and others absolutely are to be avoided.

Drugs like caffeine, sugar, alcohol, marijuana, religion, etc.?  Definitely okay in MODERATE amounts.

But I digress.   We've lost a great artist today to a very addictive and destructive drug.  Very sad indeed!

HBO's new 'Looking': Link to Full Episode on YouTube

I'm hooked!  HBO has posted the first episode of its new 30-minute gay drama, 'Looking', set in beautiful San Francisco, on YouTube. Genius marketing.  I'll be watching this one all the way to the end!  LINK TO THE FULL EPISODE ON YOUTUBE HERE!  

Putin resembles Hitler as he suggests Russia needs to "cleanse" itself of homosexuality

How horrible it must be to be LGBT in Russia these days. My heart truly goes out to all LGBT people living in Russia and their allies.

Next month's Sochi Olympics are shining a light on that country's despicable treatment of its gay people and rightly so. Ignorance about LGBT people seems to underpin the mainstream culture in Russia (as expressed by its leadership), where the lessons learned in other countries by people just as smart as Russians seem to go unheeded and unlearned.

Now Russia President Vladimir Putin is talking like Adolf Hitler by equating gays with pedophiles and saying Russia needs to “cleanse” itself of homosexuality if it wants to increase its birth rate.

This kind of thinking is horrifying.

Congrats to writer Warren Kinsella for his article today on this very subject in which he too makes the comparison between Putin's Olympics in 2014 and Hitler's Olympics in 1936. Our international failure to launch an effective boycott of Putin's games will only have dire consequences for gays in Russia. It's an ominous warning considering what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany after Hitler's Olympic success.

I hope I'm not being naive in doubting a Russian version of the Holocaust against gay people. But without a doubt, the Russian law against the presence of homosexuality in any part of public society in that country is already having violent consequences for LGBT people.

But just as insidious is the impact Russia's law will have on LGBT youth and Putin's demand that Russia "cleanse" itself of homosexuality to increase its birth rate. I guess Putin hopes that more LGBT Russian men and women will stay in the closet out of fear of violence, and embrace fake heterosexual lives that are wrong for them and for society as a whole, creating phoney marriages and lives lost in clouds of lies and hopelessness.

Putin is either ignorant or deliberately ignoring the fact that homosexuality exists as an inherent, unchangeable attribute in about the same percentage (around three to five percent) in every society, across all demographics, classes, races, etc. including in Russia. He reportedly refused to answer a question today posed by the BBC to him about whether or not he believes the truth that people are born gay.

Holding Gay Pride parades, allowing gay people to exist openly in your society, and even teaching children about the importance of treating all human beings including homosexuals equally and with dignity and respect, will not turn any of those children who are not already destined to be LGBT into an LGBT person. Banning such "gay propaganda" will only further isolate the vulnerable gay Russian youth in that society and promote violence against anyone who doesn't fit in.

Treating LGBT people with equality, dignity and respect is not a Western value; it is a human value as homosexuals are present in all parts of the world, not just the West.

Sorry for the platitudes, which are obvious to most of us here in Canada. But sadly, these truths need to be repeated again and again as old world notions about sexuality continue to dominate in many parts of the world.

And heroes like the brave, gay Russian man (pictured below) who unfurled a rainbow flag today at the Olympic torch relay as it passed through his hometown of Voronezh, 910 kilometres north of Sochi, only to be arrested, need to be honoured and supported.

'My Prairie Home' documentary about transgender musician from Alberta makes it to Sundance Film Festival

I'm excited about seeing this documentary this year, the only Canadian feature to make it to the Sundance Film Festival, which opened this past week.

'My Prairie Home' follows a transgender musician named Ray from a staunch Christian family in Alberta.   Based on this CBC story on it that ran last night, it looks amazing.

NOW Magazine's movie critics simply suck! (With the exception of Norm Wilner perhaps...)

Filmmakers (including myself on occasion) struggle greatly for years to get their stories on the big screen, from writing dozens of screenplay drafts, to finding money, to shooting, to post-production, to the agonizing process of distribution.

Audiences invest as little as nothing (if illegally downloading) or perhaps $13 if going to a theatre to view them.  

There's an old saying: those who can, do, and those who can't, teach.  This could also apply to film critics: those who can, make films, and those who can't, sit on the sidelines and attack the work of those who can.   

Some publications employ film critics who are fair, open-minded and willing to judge filmmakers' labours of love with a bit of humility, free of any personal agendas.

But not NOW Magazine in Toronto, where mostly amateurish writers in most sections spew their baseless subjectivity every week.  With the exception of Norm Wilner, whose opinions are generally top notch and take into account the actual art of the films and sometimes the intentions of the filmmakers, NOW's film critics frequently let their subjective b.s. opinions, prejudices and political agendas get in the way of their thinking.  

Glenn Sumi never saw an Asian-themed gay film he wasn't prepared to massacre due to his own self hatred and subjective tastes.  

Even worse, Susan G. Cole, an otherwise delightful woman, puts her highly sensitive, left leaning/lesbian political filter on before watching anything.  She once talked down Gus Van Sant's historic epic 'Milk' simply because there weren't enough lesbian characters in it.  Yes a story about an openly gay man who surrounded himself mostly with other gay men in his pursuit of political office and authentically portrayed him as such was simply not lesbian enough for Ms. Cole.  Thus, the weak three star rating for a modern gay classic.

Of course, when films about lesbians have cropped up with zero gay male characters in sight, Cole has been more than eager to hand out five stars and gushing reviews.

Today, I read her review of the decent film 'Saving Mr. Banks' (starring Emma Thompson, pictured above playing the not-lesbian-enough lead character) and once again we don't get a fair reading of the film's artistic merits, but instead its failure to impress Cole's political agenda. 

"The older Travers is portrayed as an old lonely prune who only lightens up after she's been in Disney's orbit. I don't expect a Disney pic to highlight Travers's lesbian love life or her very serious spiritual pursuits, but this rendering is insulting," writes Cole.

See my point?  True, I don't much care for Disney's willingness to present sanitized versions of stories.  But 'Saving Mr. Banks' had its great strengths and was enjoyable.  Certainly, it was worth more than a pathetic two stars out of five. 

Oh well, as those familiar with NOW Magazine already know, one can't expect much in terms of fair, decent, objective reporting from them, either in their news section and of course in the film section.   Perhaps their music writers are qualified, but I'm not enough of a music aficionado to tell.

Most movie lovers are smart, discerning individuals.  Most of us know which reviewers and which organizations publish decent, fair, objective reviews we can trust and which ones don't.  I'm happy to remind everyone of NOW's considerable deficiencies in that department.  

My sincere condolences to George Smitherman and his family at this tragic time...

It was startling late last night hearing the news that Christopher Peloso, husband of George Smitherman, was missing again, just a few short months after a similar incident that ended positively.  

George tweeted the following yesterday night: "Freedom from depression has been elusive for Christopher and once again he is missing and we fear for his safety."

And it was heart-breaking this morning getting the email from George Smitherman to his supporters and friends stating the following: 

December 30, 2013 Toronto Police just confirmed that my darling Christopher Peloso has been found dead. We will celebrate his life and we will find comfort somehow in knowing that he has found peace from the depression that has wreaked havoc on his mind. A son and brother, a husband and father of 3 he will always be remembered for his dedication to others. We have been greatly aided by the compassion of the Toronto Police service and we will find strength going forward from the legions of people in our extended family who loved him so.    George Smitherman

You can read more about this sad story here.  My sincere condolences go out to George, their two adopted children as well as to Christopher's birth daughter, the Peloso family and to all of their extended family on this tragic loss.   

My Top Films of 2013 (Updated Jan 26, 2014)

*** UPDATED Jan 26, 2014 (see ***new inclusion in top ten below)

As an avid cinema lover, it was a great year in film viewing.  I haven't shared a list of my favourites in a few years, so I thought I'd do so this year.  I saw dozens of films this year either in commercial theatres, at film festivals, or in the comfort of my home.  

Concrete Night, my queer flick of 2013

Below is an exhaustive list starting with my Top Eleven favourites from the year (including a 2012 title that was released in Toronto in 2013), plus other awesome flicks not in my top ten, my list of films I very much want to see as soon as possible,  followed by okay films, disappointing films and just plain bad ones.  

As a very political gay man, you'll notice a large number of queer or politically-friendly titles near the top of the mix:  

MY HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE TOP 11 FAVOURITES FROM 2013

1. 12 Years a Slave (Well on its way to Best Picture at the Oscars, this brutal gem paints a honest and unforgettable portrait of a part of North American history many try too hard to forget.  This is a brutal reminder just how awful humans can be, yet also how heroic and beautiful we can be as well.)  

2. Gravity (Astonishing technological filmmaking, it has to be seen on the big screen (and preferably in 3D), and is one hell of a ride.)

3. Quai d'Orsay (Hilarious French film is simply a must-see for all political staffers and junkies.) 

4. Concrete Night (Pictured above - A gorgeous, sexy, B&W art house film from Finland about a sexually confused teenage boy who takes to heart too much of what his selfish and clueless older brother, soon off to prison, has to say.  The queer flick of the year, in my opinion.)

**********5. Blue Jasmine (A perfect Woody Allen movie with probably what will be one of his most famous female anti-heroines, played by Cate Blanchett, well on her way to her second Oscar.) 

6. Fruitvale Station (Fleshes out the imperfect but beautiful life of a young black man and the tragedy of trigger-happy cops who rule over them with near impunity.  This paints a portrait of a life snuffed out too soon that might otherwise be just a statistic.)   

7. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley can do no wrong, it seems.  She basically cut open her own veins and let the blood spill out onto the screen, detailing deep family histories most of us would choose to keep secret.)  

8. It's All So Quiet (Deliberately paced, highly emotional portrait from the Netherlands of a middle-aged, closeted farmer, living with his old and bedridden father, very haunting and completely satisfying.) 

9. Only Lovers Left Alive (Sexy Tom Hiddleston and the always wonderful Tilda Swinton play vampire husband and wife in this Jim Jarmusch tale, probably the most original and thoughtful vampire flick I've ever seen.) 

10. Strangers by the Lake (Sexy, simple murder thriller which acts as an extended metaphor for the questionable choices many gay men make in their sex lives and elsewhere.)

11.  No (Chilean film about the successful referendum PR campaign to depose dictator Augusto Pinochet, showing the power of smart messaging over the brute thuggery of a dictatorship.)  

TOTALLY AWESOME BUT NOT QUITE IN MY TOP TEN (in alphabetical order): 

American Hustle

Bad Hair 

Before Midnight

Beyond the Candelabra (TV Movie, but it was great so I'm listing it here.) 

Blue is the Warmest Color

Captain Phillips

Catching Fire: Hungers Games 2

Dallas Buyers Club

Don Jon

Elysium

Five Dances

Frances Ha

Getting Go: The Go Doc Project

Her

Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

Inside Llewyn Davis

Interior Leather Bar

Iron Man 3

Kill Your Darlings

Mud

Pacific Rim

Philomena

Prisoners

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Room 237

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

Star Trek Into Darkness

This is the End

The Way Way Back

Wolf of Wall Street

World War Z

HIGH ON MY MUST-SEE LIST FOR 2014, in order of my desire to see them: 

The Butler 

All Is Lost

Out in the Dark

42

Nebraska

A Touch of Sin

Reaching for the Moon

Geography Club

Short Term 12

Enough Said

Gabrielle

Museum Hours

The Hunt

The Conjuring

The Act of Killing

Blackfish

Fast and the Furious 6

FINE, BUT NOT OVERLY SPECIAL:  

August: Osage County

Beneath the Harvest Sky

C.O.G.

Eastern Boys

The F Word

Free Fall

Kick Ass 2

Now You See Me

Riddick

Salvation Army

Test

DISAPPOINTING OR JUST PLAIN BAD: 

Bruno and Earlene Go To Vegas  

Gerontophilia (Bruce Labruce can do better than this.)

Man of Steel (Incoherent, dizzying action, I was literally looking at the clock waiting for it to end.)

Oculus

Paranoia (You can find Liam Hemsworth shirtless in far better films than this rubbish.) 

SO BAD OR BORING I COULDN'T FINISH THEM: 

Adore

The Host 

Only God Forgives

Sal

Hurray!: U.K. diving star Tom Daley says he's dating a "guy"

U.K. diving star and Olympic bronze medallist Tom Daley has confirmed what many gay men around the world had hoped.

In a frank, five-minute YouTube video he posted today to his YouTube channel, which has racked up more than a half-million views in its first few hours online, Daley said, "I still fancy girls," but revealed that he’s recently started dating a man.

This is wonderful, wonderful news! Daley is obviously an articulate and amazingly beautiful human being, both inside and out.

This decision to come out so publicly couldn't have been easy. It's great that he's done it at his young age, and in such a public way.

Congrats to him!

Toronto LGBT theatre's Rhubarb Festival inexplicably loses funding from the Harper government

After many years of support from the federal Department of Canadian Heritage for the annual Rhubarb Festival, which will celebrate its 35th year in February, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (which puts on the festival) received some bad news last month from the feds.

Buddies' application to the department's Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program had been rejected. No explanation was given, despite the fact the Rhubarb Festival has been approved in the past.

Buddies explains the situation further on its website:

"When we contacted the department to get some more information about why we suddenly did not fit the funding criteria, we were told in very generalized terms that we no longer meet the objectives of the Canadian Heritage program Building Communities through Arts and Heritage. The stated objective of this program is: “to engage citizens in their local communities through performing and visual arts, as well as through the expression, celebration, and preservation of local historical heritage.”

"This is not the first time that Canadian Heritage has withheld support from us. It happened once before. However, when this occurred, we received specific indications from the department on where our application fell short. What is troubling this time is that we have not been given any clear indication as to why we no longer meet their criteria. This has left us surprised and confused. Why do we no longer meet the program’s objective? We did not propose any significant shifts to the festival in our application. There has been no announced change in policy or priorities. The only source of new priorities that we can see at Canadian Heritage is the appointment of the new Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, the Honourable Shelly Glover.

"Unfortunately, there is no appeal process. We have been encouraged to reapply in the future and we will. We hope that we will have the opportunity to work with Canadian Heritage again.

"However, we also believe that it is important for the arts community and the public to know when there are shifts in government policy affecting the arts in Canada. As a queer organization that promotes freedom of expression for communities and perspectives that are often silenced, it is our duty to inform them. It becomes even more important for us to speak out when these shifts occur without any explanation. We believe that it is reasonable for citizens to expect a level of transparency from the Department of Canadian Heritage."

"...Rest assured, the Rhubarb Festival will still happen this upcoming February and we remain committed to providing space for communities to engage with boundary-pushing performance and ideas."

I am a supporter of Buddies in Bad Times theatre and a regular patron. I've also attended the Rhubarb Festival in the past and fully support its work at "building communities through arts". The festival has met the "needs of Canadians" in our community.

Why, Minister Glover, have you treated our important local theatre so poorly and without explanation?

Fighting for truth through Xtra's biased political coverage

In January 2013, Xtra Toronto had hoped to get more videographers accredited to attend the Ontario Liberal leadership convention, but unfortunately the party wasn't able to accommodate them and many other media in their demands.

In response, Xtra Toronto published an article entitled "Access Denied" that insinuated that Xtra had been shut out completely of the convention, when in fact its reporter Andrea Houston had been given accreditation to attend.

The article even quoted Gerald Hannon, never a friend of the Liberal Party, as saying, “You would think they would want Xtra to be there,” he says. “Do you detect a whiff of homophobia in there?”

The insinuation of homophobia was immediately made ridiculous as the convention went on to elect Kathleen Wynne as Ontario's new premier.

Fast forward to Xtra's coverage of the ongoing Toronto Centre by-election and again we're seeing some anti-Liberal bias rear its ugly head.

The recent fawning coverage afforded to NDP candidate Linda McQuaig was matched with less-than-flattering coverage given to Liberal candidate Chrystia Freeland.

The Xtra web page featuring Freeland's interview contains a direct link to McQuaig's interview, but no such link back to Freeland's interview exists on McQuaig's page. (Watch out to see if Xtra rectifies this after I post this.)

Xtra writes: "The Liberal candidate in the Toronto Centre federal by-election says she is a strong LGBT ally who, if elected, will continue to fight for the rights of queer people in Canada and abroad. However, in an interview with Xtra about where she stands on key LGBT issues, Chrystia Freeland left many questions unanswered...Xtra was only able to chat with Freeland for 27 minutes."

The problem here is the questions were never posed due to time running out, so how can unasked questions be unanswered? It's also odd because until today, Xtra had published, "Xtra was only able to chat with Freeland for 20 minutes." We've seen numerous NDP twitterers refer to those "20 minutes" often since the article was published. Now it's 27 minutes.

Perhaps the slight alteration in the interview time was due to this clarification posted on Freeland's website today:

"The Daily Xtra, an online news source for the LGBTTQ community, published an interview with Chrystia earlier this week. Even though Chrystia ended up speaking to the interviewer for longer than the agreed-to 20 minutes that were scheduled, the interviewer was unable to ask all the questions that she had hoped could be answered during the (plus an additional 9 minutes of run-over time). Here is Chrystia’s stance on those issues that were not covered in the interview..."

I'm glad that Freeland has put on the record her stands on those important issues.

Today, Xtra also published an online video interview with Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, which he handled very well with reporter Andrea Houston earlier this week.

But again, in the write-up accompanying the video, Houston focuses almost exclusively on alleged Liberal shortcomings on certain issues.

All politicians should be made to account for their actions and performance. The media should be able to toss whatever questions they deem fit at those politicians.

I do have a great deal of respect for Houston and for the work that Xtra does in the community. Their coverage of issues important to LGBT people is usually pretty stellar.

But as we've seen, their political coverage tends to have a pro-NDP bias. Liberals who dare not to give Xtra everything it demands (such as a video crew at the Ontario Liberal leadership convention) or unlimited extra time to ask questions during interviews already running over the agreed-to time, seem to get poorer coverage from them as a result.

Most people in the LGBT community are smart. We know that Xtra, like most media outlets, is not without its biases. Attacking certain media for such biases can seem often pointless. It's a fact of life. But calling it out is also fair and necessary.

Indiegogo campaign to fund new Leon Le film - DONATE

Dear Friends & Readers --

Please allow me to put aside politics for today and instead write about a new short film project being undertaken by my friend, director Leon Le.

I'm proud to say that Leon's launched an Indiegogo campaign to help raise funds to produce the film, tentatively titled 'Talk To Her.' The film is about love, acceptance, and missed opportunities and it explores the complicated relationships between Michael, a second generation Chinese-American man, his mother, and his girlfriend of two years to whom he plans to propose.

Leon Le is an extremely talented director and artist who produced/directed/wrote/edited another short film in 2012 called "Dawn," which I worked on as associate producer. It was a gritty, realistic and moving film about a young black man who detects what he considers to be a racist glance from another passenger on a subway, whom he follows off the train to try to teach him a lesson, to shocking results. Here's the great trailer below:

"Dawn" has already played at over 20 film festivals and continues to find audiences and win awards.

This is the next film project by Leon Le and I'm happy to say I'm also working at Associate Producer on it as well.

If you would like to invest in the project and help make it happen, please consider giving to the Indiegogo campaign. Every little bit helps!

MOVEMBER:

And speaking of helping out friends, another good friend of mine, Jefferson Darrell, is growing a moustache for Movember. If you want to help him out, here is the Movember Canada link to his campaign.