#Nevada and new york.. thats fucked up
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I JUST WANT MY BOYFRIENDDDDDD WHY ARE THEY ACROSS THE COUNTRY LIKE LITERALLY AS FAR AS THEY COULD BE
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Since u all fw marching band wttt then here u go except I'm only doing the states cause gov would def be the director who has to deal with them
Also these headcanons r real I swear I'm right (by a trombonist)
all in alphabetical order btw
1. ALABAMA — probably would do bari-sax
2. ALASKA — percussion. thats it. just percussion. (Up for interpretation)
3. ARIZONA — flute or bass clarinet, one of those.
4. ARKANSAS — flute
5. CALIFORNIA — he would be a fucking clarinet, no exceptions. He just gives off clarinet vibes, or just woodwind in general
6. COLORADO — tenor drums
7. CONNECTICUT — piccolo or mellophone
8. DELAWARE — flute
9. FLORIDA — cymbals or piccolo, one of those at the very least.
10. GEORGIA — trumpet. 100% trumpet player
11. HAWAI'I — glockenspiel or marimba
12. IDAHO — trumpet
13. ILLINOIS — euphonium or bass drums
14. INDIANA — saxophone
15. IOWA — alto saxophone
16. KANSAS — trumpet
17. KENTUCKY — trumpet or saxophone
18. LOUISIANA — trombone. (Sorry to all those saxophone loui lovers.. but i feel like his instrument would be the trombone,, it's still a jazz instrument so ykyk)
19. MAINE — bass drums or euphonium
20. MARYLAND — clarinet
21. MASSACHUSETTS — oh he's a flute, that's for sure. 😭😭
22. MICHIGAN — tenor sax
23. MINNESOTA — mellophone
24. MISSISSIPPI — trumpet
25. MISSOURI — vibraphone
26. MONTANA — cornet
27. NEBRASKA — trumpet
28. NEVADA — I'm sorry but he'd probably do tenor sax
29. NEW HAMPSHIRE — piccolo
30. NEW JERSEY — snare drum
31. NEW MEXICO — cornet
32. NEW YORK — snare or tenor drums
33. NORTH CAROLINA — trumpet
34. NORTH DAKOTA — flute (sighs)
35. OHIO — trombone
36. OKLAHOMA — alto sax
37. OREGON — marimba
38. PENNSYLVANIA — glockenspiel
39. RHODE ISLAND — sousaphone/tuba. im fucking SERIOUS about this man he would love this
40. SOUTH CAROLINA — clarinet
41. SOUTH DAKOTA — saxophone
42. TENNESSEE — tenor sax
43. TEXAS — sousaphone/tuba
44. UTAH — flute or bass clarinet
45. VERMONT — flute. (dear god help me)
46. VIRGINIA — flute (guess what)
47. WASHINGTON — flute (im going insane please stop)
48. WEST VIRGINIA — cymbals or drumline
49. WISCONSIN — xylophone
50. WYOMING — euphonium
I'm literally right abt this i swear ⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️
"You're wrong about—" SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP GET OUT OF MY HEAD ⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️
#ben brainard#welcome to the statehouse#welcome to the table#wttsh#wttt#wttt headcanons#marching band
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✔️ vegas weekend !!!
it was rlly fun but also sad that i literally did nothing i was recced from the nevada locals (sorry buddies i’ll hit em up next time thank u again for being so thoughtful w ur recs, groups j have their way of metastasizing 😖🤞) buttttt we went to hakkasan, Xs, the m&m and coke store, new york new york, the williams fan zone (didnt get anyth), walked around mgm grand and south point, ate at prosecco’s, dicked around the hotel pool (they had a waterfall!)… ermm plus some other stuff i cant rmb off the top of my head! 😁👍
photos: some cocktails we got, miss liberty herself, this random guy waving around the new zealand flag at the club? for some reason? OH also there was this guy doin a mean dougie but he stopped the second i tried to capture his excellent performance :( and me on the right w the bday girl!!
thoughts on the gp: traffic was honestly not that bad? like, ubers were 38 and 6 people was 57 was tbh that’s regular san diego prices so 💀 fuck it we ball 💀 the sphere was SO funny lol and once u got close being able to hear the cars driving by was so surreal (mb im easily impressed 😭) tons of people in merch and everyone was nice :] too bad ab free practice but im happy quali n race day were still ok 🤞 ermmm ok thats all 🤓👍
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now that im actually home with no further travel plans i thought i'd sum up what ive done since june eighteenth (writing this post sept 8 but the queen is fucking dead and thats whats most important)
drove 3191 miles in a 46 year old motorhome (vancouver to vegas and back on a weird route)
and then another 1655 in a chevy sonic (vancouver to calgary and back)
and THEN another 306 or so in an (empty) ten foot uhaul cube van (cleveland to toronto)
which i didnt intend on doing when i woke up that morning. btw
grand total of roughly 5152 miles or 8291 km of driving
and then the two flights and the two and a. uh. portion of a greyhound trip(s) to really round out the miles
visited/at least drove through ten states (washington, oregon, california, nevada, idaho, maryland, virginia, pennsylvania, ohio, and new york) and three provinces (BC, alberta, ontario)
used two mobile mechanics, one shop mechanic, and a VERY kind and friendly assistant manager at a napa auto who did two hours of work for free bc he clearly just wanted to fuck with an old engine in order to get the aforementioned 46 year old motorhome from van to vegas and back
broke my personal best for outdoor rock climbing difficulty like. eight or nine times (started the summer being comfy leading 5.8s and ended it leading 5.10b and toproping 5.11b)
rode a motorcycle for the first time!
fucked up my neck so bad in oregon i nearly called the trip there
and got heatstroke in vegas
AND got periorbital dermatitis on both eyes which lasted well over a month
saw orville peck, went to a music festival in The Middle Of Nowhere, BC, AND saw my chem
made a cape (not for me, got no pictures)
met four mutuals in the flesh
got two new tattoos
and slept in my own actual bed for 11 nights out of 83, putting me on the road for 72 days, or 19.73 percent of 2022
#its been a time! as you can probably all imagine!#feel free to like. send asks abt this if anything sounded interesting this has kinda been the best summer of my life#<- despite the fact that i dont know if ill be able to leave my bed for the next like. week due to being fuckin BURNT out
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Jetlag thoughts
It’s 4am and I am still awake. And I got something to say. There is so many thoughts that I have right now. I just comeback from the from My work and travel program from USA. I was working in Hard rock hotel and Casino at Lake Tahoe California/ Nevada.
My let Me down. When I went you on Polish airpot there was just My brother and My dad. I appreciate that, but I was hoping that My friend is going to be there. It was My only thing that was putting me away from sadness of coming back. Now it’s two days after My comeback and they do give a fuck even to meet up. It’s too sad when people are letting you down... But Im guessing this is how life goes. It’s time to make some new friends, because this situation just showed how this people really are. I was always having bad luck to friends.
Here it’s just boring. It’s cold and there is nothing to do. Im siting at home and not even packed out everything form the luggage.
I got some problem in life like everybody, but I don't feel like everybody.
When I was in US this year, because it’s My second time, I visited a lot of places this year. From Los Angeles to New York. This year I speeded a lot of time with nature. I’ve been in a lot of national parks like Yosemite, Seqouia Park, Death Valley and Grand Canyon. I went on trip with friend thru national parks- 1700miles, almost 3000km in three days!
My dream was try tu surf, and guess what? I DID IT!
I fucking love to make dreams come true, but I fucking hate to be alone.
I FUCKING HATE THAT FEELING
And I thing thats it for now. I decided to post it here bc why not
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Okay, I am so bad at keeping track of these tagged thingies. I have a bunch lost in my drafts and notes right now. BUT THAT ENDS NOW. New resolution, man.
Tagged by @americanbeautiies :)
A. - AGE: 20 *sobs*
B. - BIGGEST FEAR: Probably something deep like ending up alone or something. But I also fear heights. Screw Ferris wheels. And bridges. Screw them to heck.
C. - CURRENT TIME: about 2:40 PM~ (at the time I made this, anyways)
D. - DRINK YOU LAST HAD: It was mango juice. I really like mango. I am also slightly allergic to mango. But yolo
E. - EVERY DAY STARTS WITH: me waking up and questioning my existence in life and wondering why that existence can’t be spent sleeping right now. Then I have coffee and its all good. Do not talk to me before my coffee
F. - FAVORITE SONG: Right now it’s
“Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran. It is on repeat right now ^^ G. - GHOSTS, ARE THEY REAL: bitch, absolutely. H. - HOMETOWN: Some town in the empty barren dessert of Nevada. I was born next to a Coyote (not really but I was born somewhere in Nevada)
I. - IN LOVE WITH: Animation~ Cartoons and Anime are my one true love <3 J. - JEALOUS OF: people that have their life so together and planned out?? Like how? I only have the next two hours of my life planned out but after that its all a dark blur. (Oh and peeps that have cute girlfriends. Where can I get those) K. - KILLED SOMEONE: I mean, I have a shovel in the back of my car. Make your own inference.
L. - LAST TIME YOU CRIED: I cried last night while playing Seven’s route in Mystic Messenger...does that count? ^^; M. - MIDDLE NAME: It’s my mom’s maiden name so I’d rather not tell you N. - NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: Like 3. And I hate them soooo much (jk I love them with my entire heart~) O. - ONE WISH: Hmmmm....good question...(infinite pizza slice anyone?) P. - PERSON YOU LAST CALLED/TEXTED: I think it was my sibling group chat? We were analyzing and crying about the Girl Meets World Finale because we’re all fucking dorks #familygoals Q. - QUESTION YOU’RE ALWAYS ASKED: Probably...some dumb question about me being Asian: “Where are you from?” (Here.) “No, where were you born?” (Here.) “No, where were you really born??” (DID I FUCKING STUTTER)
R. - REASON TO SMILE: Puppies~ and yummy food~ and puns~ and excellent pieces of art~ and sparkly lights~ and flowers~ and those random and spontaneous things in life that just makes the day worth it :)
S. - SONG LAST SANG: ...I mentioned shape of you by Ed Sheeran right? T. - TIME YOU WOKE UP: liiikkkeee 11am. Afternoon classes for the win. U. - UNDERWEAR COLOR: I have no idea actually. Am I suppose to check? I’m in public, pal. V. - VACATION DESTINATION: I really want to explore a cool and bright city somewhere with lots of lights. Like New York or Tokyo! W. - WORST HABIT: My sleeping habits. My sleeping habits are the most fucked up things you’ll ever see oml I could be nocturnal during breaks. What is sun? X. - X-RAYS YOU’VE HAD: When I go to the dentist? Oh and this one time I went to the ER because my chest was killing me. I thought I was dying. Turns out, I was having a panic attack and I didn’t know. No one really tells you about the physical pain of panic attacks and we really should ^^;
Y. - YOUR FAVORITE FOOD: Okay, I’m a giant sucker for pasta. Give me the tastiest pasta you can find and drown it with five types of cheese, damnit!
Z. - ZODIAC SIGN: I’m your friendly neighborhood Sagittarius
Hmmm I’ll tag @cherrimomo , @wisesilvershadow, @awesomecybertragedy, @sprigganroot, @lies-n-slander, @deusbex, @mys-mes-princess, @yuu33, @cheezeypanda, @psychologicallyokay, @angrygirlsinprettydresses, @happily-lost-and-confused if you guys want to? Oh and anyone else thats wants to do it :) Peace.
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How Mad Men Star Kit Williamson Made His Own Gay Soap Opera
The problem, says Kit Williamson, is that EastSidersthe Emmy-nominated LGBT soap opera he created in 2012almost shares a name with EastEnders, the well-known BBC soap opera currently in its 32nd year.
And so when Williamson recommends people check out his drama about handsome LGBT Los Angelenos living, loving, screwing up, and doing what people on soap operas are wont to do, they end up going down totally the wrong rabbit hole on YouTube, and finding instead a group of East Londoners doing their own variation of the same, if at a much louder volume.
youtube
My recommendation: Watch both.
Season 3 of EastSiders, released on Nov. 28 digitally and on DVD, takes the shape of a cross-America road trip, complete with stunning skies and endless horizons, beginning with Douglas/Gomorrah Rey (played by Willam Belli) having a blow-up row in full drag and 116-degree heat beside the side of a highway, as his boyfriend Quincy (Stephen Guarino) tries in vain to pacify the situation.
Bellis heels melted in the heat, and Williamson, 32, directed the action clad in cooling wet towels. The glamor of independent web TV, he says, laughing.
Williamsons character, Cal, and partner Thom (Van Hansis) are heading back west after their sojourn in New York City, and have an encounter with a drifter played by model and porn star (and Donald Trump supporter) Colby Keller. Also returning for the third season are John Halbach, Williamsons real-life husband, and Constance Wu, Williamsons longtime buddy, as straight couple Ian and Kathy. (To confuse you even more, a leading mother-son duo in EastEnders is called the same.)
youtube
I wanted to create characters that I didnt really see on television, Williamson, who played Ed Gifford on Mad Men, told The Daily Beast. I think you see a lot of cautionary tales in LGBT representation and then hyper- morally-upright representations. Youre either in a couple, living in the suburbs with 2.5 kids, or youre a drug addict in the 1980s. Its rare that LGBT characters are allowed to operate in between, like all human beings operate.
Williamson is heartened by the growing diversity of representation in the TV shows of Shonda Rhimes and on cable, and hopes his EastSiders characters have flaws, make messes, and pick up the pieces, just like straight characters on TV.
EastSiders has been mostly financed through Kickstarter funding, raising $250,000 across three seasons. The third season is also partially funded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Impulse Group Global, and the show incorporates both organizations safer sex messaging.
Its incredibly moving, says Williamson of the publics generous financial support for the show, which makes him even more determined that the show does its fans justice. EastSiders aims to be as culturally mixed as a small cast and limited number of episodes can allow. Inclusive storytelling should be everybodys goal, says Williamson.
If Williamson has a dream, it is that one day television will be able to sustain having two LGBT-themed shows on at the same time; or even that there will be LGBT lead characters on TV, whose sexuality or gender identity is part of their identities, rather than defining them.
Until that rainbow shines, we have a smattering of characters and shows like Queer as Folk, The L Word, and Looking, which flicker into life, cause their controversies and debates, then go. The capriciousness of LGBT representation on our screens is down to the capriciousness of mostly straight-run broadcasters.
Hansis himself found fame as Luke Snyder on CBS daytime soap As The World Turns, as a landmark gay character whom fans clamored to be allowed to kiss his boyfriend, Noah (Jake Silbermann). (Oh, have you seen their horsing-around towel wrestle? You must see the towel wrestle.)
EastSiders refers geographically to the parts of East Los AngelesSilver Lake, Los Feliz Echo Park, DTLAwhere the characters live, a boho-y, very different sort of vibe to the muscle boys of West Hollywood, although (as their social media accounts reveal) the extremely handsome and charming Williamson and Halbach look just as hot as any WeHo guy.
Some scenes in the show are filmed at the mens home, and looks attractively ruffled and laid-back, filled with vintage furniture, mismatched cushions and twinkly lights.
Williamson had problems getting straight actors to play gay when EastSiders first began, even though there were no sex scenes in the first two seasons. Any show with gay content is immediately presumed to be exploitative, Williamson notes.
The road trip of Season 3 was filmed on the road itself, with cast and crew starting out in Woodstock, upstate New York, and ending up in Los Angeles, trundling across the vast expanse of America in a vintage camper trailer and another vehicle.
It took two weeks, with an extended stay in Idaho to scout locations and shoot scenes. It was exciting, invigorating and harrowing, says Williamson, laughing. Its no small undertaking taking two carloads of people across the country, and making sure theyre in bed at a reasonable hour.
The team ran afoul of a runaway tire that put a dent in the camper early on. They were snowed out of Yellowstone National Park. They shot on the fly, and in some places permits allowing them to film were withdrawn when it was revealed that it was a gay-themed TV show.
We started telling places where we wanted to film that it was called Go West, and just said it was about two friends driving across the country together, Williamson says.
The Black Hills of South Dakota were especially breathtaking, he says. You owe yourself ten minutes off the main drag to see the Badlands (National Park in South Dakota). I could have explored it all day if I had the chance. I am a huge lover of mountains. Even though it was terrifying driving that fucking camper trailer up and down mountains it was still breathtaking, even if I nearly killed everybody two or three times.
Williamson concedes that he is biased about California where he lives, but recommends the eastern part near Nevada for that big sky feeling, and that moment you get to the coast after weeks on the road to arrive at the Pacific Ocean and put your feet in the sand. It felt like a cool homecoming for the characters and the crew.
It was a really challenging place to grow up gay, and I also grew up very religious which didnt help matters.
Williamson himself grew up in Mississippi, where the countrys most anti-LGBT law, HB 1523, has just taken root. He is surprised as to how little attention the law has garnered nationally, compared to the outcry over similar laws in North Carolina.
I think a lot of people write off Mississippi as a lost cause, says Williamson, who emceed a Pride celebration there two years ago. I understand why, but its still sad to me as a person who grew up there. I really want people to understand there are great people living in Mississippi fighting for their own rights and fighting for their neighbors.
There was a lot of homophobia when he was growing up, says Williamson. It was a really challenging place to grow up gay, and I also grew up very religious which didnt help matters. It was definitely a challenge for my family to understand me.
His whole family are employed in the area of law, and he surprised all of them by wanting to act. They were supportive of me, even if part of them thought Hell get over this eventually and enter the family business. I tell them, One day Ill play a lawyer on TV. Thats all I can guarantee.
As a boy, Williamson was a big nerd. I read a lot of fantasy novels. I had a mullet. I was very socially awkward, and it was difficult at school to be friends with other people. It was really hard for me. I knew I was different, I didnt know why. I was savagely bullied as a kid, people were terrible to me.
Williamsons older sister modeled herself on the cult animated character, Daria. I thought the way you handled bullies was being sarcastic and funny, he says. It didnt turn out well.
He and Halbach once compared notes on childhood bullying. I was Gay Kid and he was Gay Boy. We both had really unoriginal bullies. Williamson laughs softly. Little did they know that Gay Kid and Gay Boy were going to get together.
I didnt really think growing up that it would be possible wed have gay marriage nationally, he adds. To be able to take advantage of it as a citizenhe and Halbach married last yearhas been so incredibly moving to me.
Williamson and Halbach met in March 2007. Williamson was then a bartender at NYC theater-land hangout Angus McIndoe, and the men were introduced by a mutual friend who told each of them separately, Hes single and not crazy. It was a perfectly judged match. That night, the men stayed talking until the bar closed.
Williamson had underplayed the significance of marriage equality because the possibility seemed so far off, he adds. When the Supreme Court ruled, it hit us both. Wed been denying ourselves something that we really did find meaningful. Im so glad we did it.
Williamson has worked successfully as a filmmaker and actor for years. Making Mad Men was a masterclass, he says, watching both those in front and behind the cameras. The sexy pictures on his Instagram account are in service of promoting his work and LGBT rights, he insists, adding with another laugh, and in shamelessly promoting ourselves. Instagram is a tool for good and evil, and we try to use it for good, for the best of possibilities.
Williamson chuckles that the idea was to use social media to direct people to EastSiders and the mens other work, promoting fashion and fitness influencers and LGBT destinations, but now people recognize him and Halbach from social media itself.
How EastSiders fans respond to the inclusion of Colby Keller remains to be seen. His scenes were shot before he revealed his support of Donald Trump.
I was really surprised and caught off guard when I saw that, says Williamson, who, a Hillary Clinton supporter, had been shocked when Trump triumphed in last years presidential election. I was driving to Idaho when the gay blogs erupted in fury over his (Kellers) political leanings. We did make the choice not to replace him. I havent talked to him about what happened.
When it came to keeping Keller in the season, Williamson asked himself whether he would work with Susan Sarandon, another Clinton naysayer who backed Bernie Sanders.
I think were living in really, really divided times, and I dont want to do anything to add to that divide, says Williamson. I also dont think we should be casting people out of the village. Its complicated. A lot of my family members support Trump, not for ideologically pure reasons beyond really liking the guy and what he stands for.
Keeping Kellers role in EastSiders intact presented an interesting dilemma, and I dont have the answer to it, Willliamson admits.
I ask, had he known that Keller was a Trump supporter, would Williamson have still signed him up?
I dont know. When we were planning the season we were 99 percent sure Hillary Clinton was going to be president. Faced with the reality of working with an active Trump supporter right now in 2017 my answer would be no. Its just too much of open wound for me, and friends I know who are afraid of being deported. I do think its a very serious situation.
If Hollywood is to have any leg to stand on in shaping the culture we need to own up to the abuses of power that are very real.
Williamson recently posted on social media his experience of sexual harassment when he was starting out in the entertainment industry.
At 18, he was invited to a party at an agents house. He proceeded to tell me not to come out if I wanted to be an actor, to stay in the closet, and then tried to put his hand down my pants, Williamson recalls. It was this one, two punch of harassment and homophobia that was a bitter pill to swallow, and it soured me on Los Angeles for a couple of years.
He did not suffer any graver sexual assaults, as allegedly committed by the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin fucking Spacey. I think its really important we have these conversations. If Hollywood is to have any leg to stand on in shaping the culture we need to own up to the abuses of power that are very real.
What his experience also shows, again, is Hollywoods powerful gays seeking to keep the closet intact, part of a historyfor Willliamsonof different groups acting as their own morality police and oppressors.
Its very sad and true. Theres still not been a gay movie star. Look at a lot of people who have succeeded on television. Most come out after their big break. Im not here to judge: Its brave to come out at the height of your success, but in 2017 I think we need to look at the paths other people have blazed for us and be brave enough to walk down them without fear.
Next for Williamson may come more EastSiders. He is also writing a series about queer thirtysomethings set in New Orleans.
Id love to get to a place where the leads of a show can be gay where that is normal and not extraordinary, says Williamson, and where the storylines can be both unique to us and more universal in the same breath; where we are allowed to be doctors, husbands, wives, crazy, not crazy, parents, single, slutty, and settled.
The whole incredible range of human experience should allowed to be represented in LGBT characters, where we are not defined solely by our sexuality.
The open road Williamson and his crew traveled for Season 3 of EastSiders perhaps says it all.
The third season of EastSiders will be released on DVD by Wolfe Video and digital platforms on Nov. 28. More details here.
Read more: http://ift.tt/2BcEdfF
from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2A8iKqW via Viral News HQ
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How Mad Men Star Kit Williamson Made His Own Gay Soap Opera
The problem, says Kit Williamson, is that EastSidersthe Emmy-nominated LGBT soap opera he created in 2012almost shares a name with EastEnders, the well-known BBC soap opera currently in its 32nd year.
And so when Williamson recommends people check out his drama about handsome LGBT Los Angelenos living, loving, screwing up, and doing what people on soap operas are wont to do, they end up going down totally the wrong rabbit hole on YouTube, and finding instead a group of East Londoners doing their own variation of the same, if at a much louder volume.
youtube
My recommendation: Watch both.
Season 3 of EastSiders, released on Nov. 28 digitally and on DVD, takes the shape of a cross-America road trip, complete with stunning skies and endless horizons, beginning with Douglas/Gomorrah Rey (played by Willam Belli) having a blow-up row in full drag and 116-degree heat beside the side of a highway, as his boyfriend Quincy (Stephen Guarino) tries in vain to pacify the situation.
Bellis heels melted in the heat, and Williamson, 32, directed the action clad in cooling wet towels. The glamor of independent web TV, he says, laughing.
Williamsons character, Cal, and partner Thom (Van Hansis) are heading back west after their sojourn in New York City, and have an encounter with a drifter played by model and porn star (and Donald Trump supporter) Colby Keller. Also returning for the third season are John Halbach, Williamsons real-life husband, and Constance Wu, Williamsons longtime buddy, as straight couple Ian and Kathy. (To confuse you even more, a leading mother-son duo in EastEnders is called the same.)
youtube
I wanted to create characters that I didnt really see on television, Williamson, who played Ed Gifford on Mad Men, told The Daily Beast. I think you see a lot of cautionary tales in LGBT representation and then hyper- morally-upright representations. Youre either in a couple, living in the suburbs with 2.5 kids, or youre a drug addict in the 1980s. Its rare that LGBT characters are allowed to operate in between, like all human beings operate.
Williamson is heartened by the growing diversity of representation in the TV shows of Shonda Rhimes and on cable, and hopes his EastSiders characters have flaws, make messes, and pick up the pieces, just like straight characters on TV.
EastSiders has been mostly financed through Kickstarter funding, raising $250,000 across three seasons. The third season is also partially funded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Impulse Group Global, and the show incorporates both organizations safer sex messaging.
Its incredibly moving, says Williamson of the publics generous financial support for the show, which makes him even more determined that the show does its fans justice. EastSiders aims to be as culturally mixed as a small cast and limited number of episodes can allow. Inclusive storytelling should be everybodys goal, says Williamson.
If Williamson has a dream, it is that one day television will be able to sustain having two LGBT-themed shows on at the same time; or even that there will be LGBT lead characters on TV, whose sexuality or gender identity is part of their identities, rather than defining them.
Until that rainbow shines, we have a smattering of characters and shows like Queer as Folk, The L Word, and Looking, which flicker into life, cause their controversies and debates, then go. The capriciousness of LGBT representation on our screens is down to the capriciousness of mostly straight-run broadcasters.
Hansis himself found fame as Luke Snyder on CBS daytime soap As The World Turns, as a landmark gay character whom fans clamored to be allowed to kiss his boyfriend, Noah (Jake Silbermann). (Oh, have you seen their horsing-around towel wrestle? You must see the towel wrestle.)
EastSiders refers geographically to the parts of East Los AngelesSilver Lake, Los Feliz Echo Park, DTLAwhere the characters live, a boho-y, very different sort of vibe to the muscle boys of West Hollywood, although (as their social media accounts reveal) the extremely handsome and charming Williamson and Halbach look just as hot as any WeHo guy.
Some scenes in the show are filmed at the mens home, and looks attractively ruffled and laid-back, filled with vintage furniture, mismatched cushions and twinkly lights.
Williamson had problems getting straight actors to play gay when EastSiders first began, even though there were no sex scenes in the first two seasons. Any show with gay content is immediately presumed to be exploitative, Williamson notes.
The road trip of Season 3 was filmed on the road itself, with cast and crew starting out in Woodstock, upstate New York, and ending up in Los Angeles, trundling across the vast expanse of America in a vintage camper trailer and another vehicle.
It took two weeks, with an extended stay in Idaho to scout locations and shoot scenes. It was exciting, invigorating and harrowing, says Williamson, laughing. Its no small undertaking taking two carloads of people across the country, and making sure theyre in bed at a reasonable hour.
The team ran afoul of a runaway tire that put a dent in the camper early on. They were snowed out of Yellowstone National Park. They shot on the fly, and in some places permits allowing them to film were withdrawn when it was revealed that it was a gay-themed TV show.
We started telling places where we wanted to film that it was called Go West, and just said it was about two friends driving across the country together, Williamson says.
The Black Hills of South Dakota were especially breathtaking, he says. You owe yourself ten minutes off the main drag to see the Badlands (National Park in South Dakota). I could have explored it all day if I had the chance. I am a huge lover of mountains. Even though it was terrifying driving that fucking camper trailer up and down mountains it was still breathtaking, even if I nearly killed everybody two or three times.
Williamson concedes that he is biased about California where he lives, but recommends the eastern part near Nevada for that big sky feeling, and that moment you get to the coast after weeks on the road to arrive at the Pacific Ocean and put your feet in the sand. It felt like a cool homecoming for the characters and the crew.
It was a really challenging place to grow up gay, and I also grew up very religious which didnt help matters.
Williamson himself grew up in Mississippi, where the countrys most anti-LGBT law, HB 1523, has just taken root. He is surprised as to how little attention the law has garnered nationally, compared to the outcry over similar laws in North Carolina.
I think a lot of people write off Mississippi as a lost cause, says Williamson, who emceed a Pride celebration there two years ago. I understand why, but its still sad to me as a person who grew up there. I really want people to understand there are great people living in Mississippi fighting for their own rights and fighting for their neighbors.
There was a lot of homophobia when he was growing up, says Williamson. It was a really challenging place to grow up gay, and I also grew up very religious which didnt help matters. It was definitely a challenge for my family to understand me.
His whole family are employed in the area of law, and he surprised all of them by wanting to act. They were supportive of me, even if part of them thought Hell get over this eventually and enter the family business. I tell them, One day Ill play a lawyer on TV. Thats all I can guarantee.
As a boy, Williamson was a big nerd. I read a lot of fantasy novels. I had a mullet. I was very socially awkward, and it was difficult at school to be friends with other people. It was really hard for me. I knew I was different, I didnt know why. I was savagely bullied as a kid, people were terrible to me.
Williamsons older sister modeled herself on the cult animated character, Daria. I thought the way you handled bullies was being sarcastic and funny, he says. It didnt turn out well.
He and Halbach once compared notes on childhood bullying. I was Gay Kid and he was Gay Boy. We both had really unoriginal bullies. Williamson laughs softly. Little did they know that Gay Kid and Gay Boy were going to get together.
I didnt really think growing up that it would be possible wed have gay marriage nationally, he adds. To be able to take advantage of it as a citizenhe and Halbach married last yearhas been so incredibly moving to me.
Williamson and Halbach met in March 2007. Williamson was then a bartender at NYC theater-land hangout Angus McIndoe, and the men were introduced by a mutual friend who told each of them separately, Hes single and not crazy. It was a perfectly judged match. That night, the men stayed talking until the bar closed.
Williamson had underplayed the significance of marriage equality because the possibility seemed so far off, he adds. When the Supreme Court ruled, it hit us both. Wed been denying ourselves something that we really did find meaningful. Im so glad we did it.
Williamson has worked successfully as a filmmaker and actor for years. Making Mad Men was a masterclass, he says, watching both those in front and behind the cameras. The sexy pictures on his Instagram account are in service of promoting his work and LGBT rights, he insists, adding with another laugh, and in shamelessly promoting ourselves. Instagram is a tool for good and evil, and we try to use it for good, for the best of possibilities.
Williamson chuckles that the idea was to use social media to direct people to EastSiders and the mens other work, promoting fashion and fitness influencers and LGBT destinations, but now people recognize him and Halbach from social media itself.
How EastSiders fans respond to the inclusion of Colby Keller remains to be seen. His scenes were shot before he revealed his support of Donald Trump.
I was really surprised and caught off guard when I saw that, says Williamson, who, a Hillary Clinton supporter, had been shocked when Trump triumphed in last years presidential election. I was driving to Idaho when the gay blogs erupted in fury over his (Kellers) political leanings. We did make the choice not to replace him. I havent talked to him about what happened.
When it came to keeping Keller in the season, Williamson asked himself whether he would work with Susan Sarandon, another Clinton naysayer who backed Bernie Sanders.
I think were living in really, really divided times, and I dont want to do anything to add to that divide, says Williamson. I also dont think we should be casting people out of the village. Its complicated. A lot of my family members support Trump, not for ideologically pure reasons beyond really liking the guy and what he stands for.
Keeping Kellers role in EastSiders intact presented an interesting dilemma, and I dont have the answer to it, Willliamson admits.
I ask, had he known that Keller was a Trump supporter, would Williamson have still signed him up?
I dont know. When we were planning the season we were 99 percent sure Hillary Clinton was going to be president. Faced with the reality of working with an active Trump supporter right now in 2017 my answer would be no. Its just too much of open wound for me, and friends I know who are afraid of being deported. I do think its a very serious situation.
If Hollywood is to have any leg to stand on in shaping the culture we need to own up to the abuses of power that are very real.
Williamson recently posted on social media his experience of sexual harassment when he was starting out in the entertainment industry.
At 18, he was invited to a party at an agents house. He proceeded to tell me not to come out if I wanted to be an actor, to stay in the closet, and then tried to put his hand down my pants, Williamson recalls. It was this one, two punch of harassment and homophobia that was a bitter pill to swallow, and it soured me on Los Angeles for a couple of years.
He did not suffer any graver sexual assaults, as allegedly committed by the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin fucking Spacey. I think its really important we have these conversations. If Hollywood is to have any leg to stand on in shaping the culture we need to own up to the abuses of power that are very real.
What his experience also shows, again, is Hollywoods powerful gays seeking to keep the closet intact, part of a historyfor Willliamsonof different groups acting as their own morality police and oppressors.
Its very sad and true. Theres still not been a gay movie star. Look at a lot of people who have succeeded on television. Most come out after their big break. Im not here to judge: Its brave to come out at the height of your success, but in 2017 I think we need to look at the paths other people have blazed for us and be brave enough to walk down them without fear.
Next for Williamson may come more EastSiders. He is also writing a series about queer thirtysomethings set in New Orleans.
Id love to get to a place where the leads of a show can be gay where that is normal and not extraordinary, says Williamson, and where the storylines can be both unique to us and more universal in the same breath; where we are allowed to be doctors, husbands, wives, crazy, not crazy, parents, single, slutty, and settled.
The whole incredible range of human experience should allowed to be represented in LGBT characters, where we are not defined solely by our sexuality.
The open road Williamson and his crew traveled for Season 3 of EastSiders perhaps says it all.
The third season of EastSiders will be released on DVD by Wolfe Video and digital platforms on Nov. 28. More details here.
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