#and how the person buddy cole is based on was the first feminine guy he ever fell in love with

[magentagalaxies]

the fact that i haven't run out of things to say about scott thompson is honestly ridiculous but i need to put on my comedy-analysis-hat bc i just listened to another episode of PTSDIVA to cheer myself up and there was a sketch at the beginning of this episode that i'm fucking fascinated by

ok so basically PTSDIVA is a podcast scott thompson did in 2019 exploring various traumas he went through with humor as well as empathy, and each episode starts with a comedic bit related to the topic at hand. this episode (the finale) was about the trauma of being born as a gay man in the time scott grew up in and having to unlearn a lot of the self-loathing that came with that (fun!)

the opening sketch was scott reading the introduction to the episode (introducing the podcast and explaining the topic like he does every episode) except when he gets to the end he tells his producer he wants to retake it because he thinks he "sounded too gay." the producer says he didn't notice anything and lets scott do another take, where he comedically lisps even harder (not doing the buddy voice but same ballpark). he then asks the producer to do it again, the producer says he didn't think it was a problem but sure whatever, scott then goes on to reread it in a completely monotone "straight" voice but then asks for a retake because he was overcompensating. this dynamic goes on until scott goes to record the intro and ends up accidentally just ranting about how his cishet male producer keeps saying his voice sounds fine and how would he know because he never had to deal with being harassed for sounding gay and this is obviously just a trick to take over the podcast for himself etc etc etc. his producer then goes "uh, scott? i think i just accidentally recorded your inner voice instead," but both the producer and scott like this take so they're done for the day

and of course i'm obsessed with this opening sketch bc it is a really great examination of how being seen as an outcast for an inherent part of your identity can lead you to constantly fixating on how obvious these things are about yourself, which must be even more intense for a gay man of scott's generation, and this kind of resentment towards people who can just go through life without having to think about it

but that's not the reason this fascinates me. this fascinates me because it is the literal inverse of a kids in the hall sketch scott did decades earlier

this sketch has scott just existing as a gay man in the 90s and not even being able to walk down the street without immediately being clocked as gay for his appearance and harassed over it. he changes his appearance several times, trying on different supposedly-more-masculine identities that only make him more obvious, before eventually just showing up in a bear costume and mauling the homophobe and calling him a fag in return. this sketch itself is one of my favorites, the fact that it's able to say so much in its simplicity with only one word is so powerful

but it's fascinating to me comparing this with the 2019 revisiting of this concept. the fact that in the kith sketch the homophobia is coming from an external force but in 2019 the homophobia is an internal conflict with a well-meaning straight ally telling him the problem doesn't exist. the fact that the endings are equally surreal and somewhat similar - in one scott wears a bear costume and attacks the homophobe getting his revenge, in the other his "inner voice" is recorded with all its anger and resentment on full display and the producer loves it. i could write a whole essay on just these two sketches on their own (and i guess i just did). scott thompson's comedy speaks to my soul in a way few other comedians can and the fact that he isn't more recognized for it is honestly criminal

[hiddleshoneybunny]

Kong: Skull Island

Journey to the center of the Heart of Darkness.

SPOILERS! photo credit [X]

This film for me delivered on everything I expected it to, it had all the trappings of the good old fashion Saturday afternoon monsters flicks that I used to watch laying on the floor in front of the tv as a kid, it was also reminiscence of my favorite explorer team films such as Journey To The Center of the Earth and Jason and the Argonauts. It had all the prerequisite elements, the “mad scientist” with the hidden agenda, the jaded military commander, the conflicted and dashing hero, the feisty female who is the moral compass, the wise cracking side kicks and a motley crew of befuddle misfits tagging along because they are ordered to and of course the misunderstood creature,Jordan Vogt-Roberts didn’t miss a trope, but he did it all with what I thought was a clever and refreshing spin.

The Dawning Age of Aquarius.

The film begins with a montage during the opening credits that sets the stage for the atmosphere of the post WWII baby boomer generation of the late 60s and early 70s, having been conceived and growing up during these times in american culture,a lot of those images resonated with me. I had one Uncle who served in WWII and another Uncle who served in the Korean war some of my cousins were civil rights activist and conscientious objectors to the war in Vietnam.It was the waning years of the cold war and the dawn of the era of political and social upheaval that was beginning to challenge the male patriarchal status quo, we were beginning to become increasingly aware of the damage that was being done to our natural environment and women were branching out into areas that were traditionally held by men, all elements Jordan used through out this story.

One thing I keep hearing a lot about this film is the lack of character development and when I watch movies like this I wonder just how much effort should realistically be put into it. I can understand a tight ensemble film like Aliens where there was only a handful of people in a very claustrophobic setting in the middle of outer space, so character development was vital to driving the plot but in a film like this where you literally have about 20 plus people in the cast how much energy should you commit to that at the risk of losing the focus of the plot, which is basically going to an uncharted Island to find a giant ape? if you are going into this story looking for 3 dimensional character development, then I believe you may be expecting too much. I think just enough of an individual character’s back story to get you to understand what motivates them is sufficient and I think JVR did a pretty acceptable job of this.

You have Samuel L Jackson doing his classical “SJL” thing as Colonel Packard a man with an exemplary war record who is on the verge of being sent out to pasture, Captain Chapman (Toby Kebbell, trivia: he also did some face capture for Kong) a loyal and dutiful soldier who is anxious to get home to a secure job his wife and young son, battle weary men who were drafted into a war we had no business being a part of in the first place, who did their duty to their country and and are ready to go home, John Goodman as Bill Randa a war vet still haunted by his demons,Corey Hawkins as Houston Brooks the young idealistic Harvard grad still naive enough to think he can make a difference, Slivko “the kid” played by Thomas Mann, Brie Larson as the irrepressible Mason Weaver! a photo journalist who is looking for that Pulitzer prize winning photo and last but not least Tom as Captain James Conrad a lost soul trolling seedy bars and brothels still looking for a purpose to his meaningless life, all thrown together on that fateful “last mission” all with their individual reasons for going and for getting the hell out!

The Loki Syndrome

Another aspect of this film that I want to address is the mixed reviews and reactions to Tom’s portrayal of Captain Conrad one of the comments I’ve been seeing mostly here, in this fandom, is that his character’s been given “throw away” lines and offers no real “dramatic substance” to be fair this is a “monster munch” (Toms own words) ensemble piece.I believe we have been spoiled into expecting Tom to deliver some type of Shakespearean Henry V emoting that elevated Loki to a great 3 dimensional character, but not every role he is going to play is going to require that, and with that being said,Tom always shines no matter what he’s given and he did a damn good job at anchoring this cast as the Alpha Male Good Guy.

Another comment which seems to be made almost exclusively by male reviewers is Toms lack of believable “butchness” to pull off the role of an action hero (insert annoyed sigh) again we are in a genre which is still predominated by men, who’s idea of an action hero is a Call Of Duty video game cartoon, from my own… ehem, personal experience, men who become a part of the special forces are, need, to be extremely intelligent, they require a little more finesse than your average army grunt and if any one is doubting Toms virility and athletic prowess…my God, the scene where he runs to grab the gas mask and katana for the now famous ‘gas mask samurai’ ( and I have a feeling this scene is going to become iconic) sequence is orgasmic, the testosterone was blasting off that screen, I think only Tom could pull off that delicate balance of intelligence grace and masculinity.

As for his character’s “depth” there is a level of deepness there, that at first, is not very obvious it is only later on in the film about the 2nd act when we get a little more of Conrad’s back story that we truly understand his pain.We learn that his father was an RAF pilot in WWII who was shot down during a mission and was never recovered. Conrad is a tracker because he is trying to find and bring home his father, he is trying to live up to the legacy of a man he admired and his motivation on this mission is a last attempt to give his life some purpose.

Apocalypse right now!

Once the helicopters breach the treacherous weather barrier surrounding Skull Island the audience as well as the team are quickly entranced by its unspoiled and breath taking natural beauty,but Jordan wastes no time plunging everything into chaos the minute the research team gets” boots on the ground” it all goes “tits up” fast,and he does not hold back with a visceral and brutal depiction of Kong’s rage the audience gets to experience first hand the terror and confusion of combat the sequence was heart pounding, suddenly a scientific expedition years in the planning has within minutes been reduced to a fight for survival against “hostiles” the likes that none of them have ever encountered, and this is where the secondary cast of characters come to life. Cole (Shea Whigham) and Mills (Jason Mitchel) provide the classic war buddy comic relief but also an eerie sense of foreboding as you know one of them is not going to make it back.

There were so many great references to Apocalypse Now too many to go into detail here (and believe, I got a whole gif set coming based on that) but the one Jordan lovingly lifted from the film was that of the “lone surviving outsider usually a white male” trope in the character of Lieutenant Hank Marlow. but unlike the character of Colonel Walter E Kurzt in AN who reduced the Vietnamese inhabitants he embed himself among into slaves and concubines, Lt Marlow respected and deferred to the customs and wisdom of the indigenous people he lived with for 28 years, and it is his knowledge that becomes invaluable to helping the survivors navigate the dangers of Skull Island. This was a trope that could have been reduced to the cliche of the “great white god” but he avoided that disaster beautifully and John C Reilly is true to form, his performance is endearing and hilarious and he steals every scene he’s in! I’ve read somewhere in one of the many reviews that he is the heart and soul of this film and he truly is!

Yin and Yang

I don’t know if it was lost on some that this story takes place in Asia, a culture that is heavily influenced by the concept of Yin the feminine energy and Yang the masculine, and Weaver and Conrad’s relationship was a beautiful balance of this! Again Jordan avoided the traditional done to death trope of the damsel in distress, who has to be rescued by the hero. Instead we got something so much more compelling. Weaver is the embodiment of the feminine Yin energy that of compassion, spirituality, love and the higher consciousness she wants to show the world the horror of what is happening through her anti war photography this compassion and instinct of the earth mother nurturer protector are seen in the scenes where she interacts with the indigenous people,the trapped water buffalo and Kong.

Conrad is the masculine Yang energy that is physical protection, aggression the intellect, he goes beyond and above the call of duty to physically protect the women( Weaver) men and animals (Kong) under his care, Conrad continuously surrounds her with physical protection (Yang energy) so that she can be the moral compass (Yin energy) and it is Weaver’s spirituality that elevates Conrad’s intellect, which sets them both on a path together (balance) to save Kong.

Colonel Packard on the other hand is an example of the negative effects of Yang energy, he too cares for his men and wants to protect the world from the threat of a creature like Kong, but when the Yang energy goes unchecked as it inevitably does in a war without the balance of Yin energy it becomes destructive. Then there is Kong a symbol of the natural world that we have to strive to truly understand and respect. Kong too has been spared the cliche of the angry beast killing indiscriminately but is portrayed a creature who is living instinctively in balance with his environment, there is a scene where we see Kong sitting alone looking out into the stars  and we can see and sense his loneliness, this creature has a soul.

All’s well that ends well.

I think the film wrapped it all up nice and tidy! The hero and heroine make it off the Island alive and Kong lives to kick ass another day.I think Jordan accomplished his goal of keeping this beloved motion picture legend relevant,he very successfully side stepped all the outdated cliches and tropes while still staying true to some of the original films most iconic moments,one of the most memorable being the “girl in the palm of an ape” but instead of the heroine being some shiny blonde object that Kong wants to posses he instinctively understands that she is part of the natural order he is there to maintain as Lt. Marlow puts it: “Kong, he’s a pretty nice king” Jordan has given us a Kong franchise for the 21st century!

 We’ve all by now have read most of the reviews and heard the word of mouth raves. The film is visually stunning the special effects are superb the soundtrack is retro gold! it is fast paced and action packed, I saw this film twice (each time the theater was packed!) and both times the audience loved it! they cheered and laughed in all the right places and I am beside myself with joy for Tom and the cast he now has a bonafied Hollywood Blockbuster with his name as the head liner and is on his way to solidifying his status as “Leading Man!”

Do I have any valid complaints about this film?..honestly not really! But I will say this, leave all your preconceived expectations at the door grab a huge tube of popcorn kick back and willfully suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours and you’ll have a great time!

All photos and gifs used in this post were all found on google search. except where credited.

The End…

or  

is

it…..

[kartiavelino]

How same-sex pairs are reinventing stuffy ballroom dancing

The primary time Ernesto Palma requested Nikolai Shpakov to cha-cha at a Chelsea dance studio, again in 2014, the Russian ballroom-dancing champ demurred. “The concept of dancing with one other man was complicated,” the 40-year-old Shpakov tells The Put up. “Who leads? Who follows? I had been dancing with women since I used to be 10 — I simply didn’t have an curiosity.” However after cheek-to-cheeking with Palma for a fund-raiser that yr, the Westchester-based dancer modified his tune. Now, the light-footed pair star in “Scorching To Trot,” in regards to the world of same-sex ballroom-dancing competitions. Gail Freedman’s documentary, now enjoying on the Quad Cinema, follows 4 dancers in 2014 as they put together to compete within the worldwide Homosexual Video games, which happen each 4 years. “Conventional ballroom dancing is so established and formal, however I discovered [dancing with a man] to be releasing,” says Shpakov, who got here to the US in 1998 and now runs his personal studio, Solely Dance, in Hawthorne, NY. “I discovered a lot from it, each professionally and about myself.” Emily Coles and Kieren Jameson in “Scorching to Trot.”Shell Jiang Freedman first heard about same-sex ballroom dancing in 2012, when her cameraman instructed her a couple of lesbian dance group on the West Coast. It turned out that same-gender-couple dancing was flourishing in cities like San Francisco and New York, the place homosexual golf equipment and dance halls had been more and more providing LGBT-friendly ballroom, salsa and tango courses and socials. “I used to be drawn to the great thing about it and the individuality,” Freedman tells The Put up. After discovering a San Francisco-based feminine duo to give attention to, she met Palma, who’s been dancing salsa with each guys and gals since his childhood in Costa Rica. “He’s simply so heat and open,” she says. “Inside minutes, I knew his life story.” After we first see him within the doc, Palma is coaching together with his longtime buddy Robbie Tristan, who teaches with him at Chelsea’s Stepping Out Studios. A well being scare then forces 37-year-old Tristan to return to the Czech Republic to be together with his household. That’s when Shpakov steps in. “Scorching To Trot” traces the intricacies of same-gender {couples} dancing: Not solely are there no designated elements as chief and follower, however companions should work out how one can raise somebody who’s roughly the identical measurement. The movie additionally follows its stars’ personal dramatic journeys. Palma, who struggled with bullying and medicines in his youth, says that dancing saved his life. But it surely’s Shpakov who has the largest awakening within the movie. The dancer didn’t come out until he was 30, surprising his conservative Russian household — and his spouse. (They divorced, and he’s now fortunately married to a person.) He says dancing with Palma helped him embrace his newfound id. “Dancing is a superb automobile for self-expression,” he says. “I hope the film opens extra individuals as much as it.” The place to bop in NYC Massive Apple Ranch This homosexual country-western dance membership provides extra than simply line dancing, with classes that incorporate waltz, two-step, swing and extra. Classes each second and fourth Saturday of the month. 151 W. 46th St., 11th flooring; BigAppleRanch.com The NYC All Evening Milonga Sarah La Rocca, the host of this pansexual twice-monthly tango social, is straight, however prefers dancing with ladies. All combos are welcome, and classes are supplied for inexperienced persons. Classes each second and final Saturday of the month. Stepping Out Studios, 37 W. 26th St., ninth flooring; SteppingOutStudios.com/ Homosexual Ballroom “Scorching To Trot” star Robbie Tristan provides same-gender group dance courses at Stepping Out Studios. The autumn season begins Sept. 8, and Tristan additionally hosts LGBT Latin-dance nights all through town. Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. Stepping Out Studios; Homosexual-Ballroom.com Share this: https://nypost.com/2018/08/24/how-same-sex-pairs-are-reinventing-stuffy-ballroom-dancing/ The post How same-sex pairs are reinventing stuffy ballroom dancing appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2018/08/how-same-sex-pairs-are-reinventing-stuffy-ballroom-dancing.html

[magentagalaxies]

ok just gonna buddy cole post on main bc all my posts are for you bestie <3

anyway i'm just thinking about buddy cole on this fine saturday afternoon and i'm like. oh my god buddy cole as a character is just absolutely fascinating there really isn't anything else like him in so many ways, and i really want to be able to interview scott and paul about buddy and put together a whole video essay deep dive on the complete history of buddy cole at some point

like. thinking back to buddy's "origin story": paul was messing around with rob rowatt's video camera (rob rowatt being an original member of mouth congress btw). paul tells scott to do something funny so he can practice filming it. scott begins doing this impression of a guy he had an affair with a few years prior, and comes up with this character who's an immortal vampire that's also an effeminate homosexual. both scott and paul find this character very funny so they continue making short little videos of buddy cole. at one point they're filming outside and the camera can't pick up scott speaking softly as this character so he has to start projecting his voice more. eventually the persona becomes one of scott's main sketch characters, the vampire thing is dropped, and the rest is history.

but like there's so much there already. scott has said the guy who was the inspiration for buddy was the first feminine man he ever fell in love with and completely changed his whole view on femininity since he was in awe of how this guy's femininity wasn't a weakness but was instead a weapon he could wield to command attention. this man also died of aids in the early days of the epidemic before much was known about AIDS, which is fascinating considering how buddy cole was initially imagined as IMMORTAL. like in an era where being gay was considered a death sentence this character was literally the gayest fag to ever live and could never die. honestly even though buddy cole is no longer canonically immortal there's still this ethereal quality to him, like buddy is older than history and will be around forever in some form or another.

and that's a good transition to the next thing that fucking fascinates me about buddy cole: scott has been playing this character for nearly FORTY YEARS. and playing this character fairly consistently for 40 years. can you imagine telling young scott and paul messing around with a video camera that they would still be doing this exact same thing in 2023???? the queer aspect of the character alone makes this mindblowing to think about bc this character has been around for so much queer history and the whole evolution of how queerness is viewed by society over the past few decades, and as always this is a story of hope and queer resilience and survival. but beyond that, i can't think of another sketch character that has had this longevity and this personal aspect to it at the same time. like the only comparisons i can make. sure some snl stars or monty python members still reference older characters, and even within KITH they brought back several older characters in their revival, but that's just nowhere near the same league. the other comparison i can make is those comedians who do standup in character, but typically that's the actor's main or at least only thing, and you don't really know them as much as a person or see many other characters from them. buddy is an interesting case bc scott has said buddy is probably more famous than him, but also he does standup just as himself now and he has several other characters he's known for beyond just being buddy cole.

and it's wild to me how personal buddy cole is for scott too??? like when i wrote my letter to scott. i wrote it as my character aubrey aubergine writing to buddy cole based on the general sentiment i've heard scott express in interviews where he says he can say things as buddy cole that he could never say as himself, and how i relate to that as aubrey. which is such a fascinating place to be in. bc i don't know exactly what scott means by that quote, i can only infer based on my own experience as a sketch writer and based on the other things i have seen from his work. but there is just this deeply personal and dare i say it emotional nature to a lot of scott's comedy that feels exemplified in buddy cole. like i don't know a ton about this era of scott's work but i think about how after scott was the victim of a firebombing incident in 2000 (which btw it's still wild i rarely hear this brought up because what the fuck) he immediately started working on a one man show as buddy centering on the topic of violence and the gross realities of being human. (side note this show only had a few weeks of performances in toronto, and then literally the week before it was supposed to open in new york 9/11 happened and it was permanently cancelled. this is my lost media white whale i want to see this show!!) like again. i don't know scott personally no matter what my icon might suggest but also it's like fascinating that from what i've heard he even uses buddy to process things??? that's such a cool place for that character to be in???

but on the opposite side of that. one thing i've been thinking about lately is the fact that buddy cole isn't just scott thompson. not even in the "it's just a persona" way - it's literally not only him. paul bellini has been a close collaborator on buddy cole since the very beginning, and pretty much every buddy cole related thing has both scott and paul's names on it, or at the very least had paul as part of the process. EXCEPT... kids in the hall season six. paul bellini was not hired as a writer on KITH season six bc amazon only wanted to hire writers that they had already worked with before (which pisses me off bc you can't do the show without bellini!!) as a way to work around it the kids kept writing in bellini cameos into sketches so he could have an acting credit (including voicing the gloryhole in the buddy cole sketch from season six) but scott and paul have both mentioned there were five entire buddy cole monologues that were rejected by amazon which didn't make it into the new season (bc contrary to what the nudity would have you believe: amazon was actually somehow stricter with their censorship than what the kids in the hall had to deal with in the 90s). one of those monologues has been performed a few times in mouth congress shows, and it's genuinely so wild seeing how it evolved just in the course of one month going from a scott solo effort to having paul help him rewrite it (the first version was the source of my "he would not fucking say that" moment in november, and when i got lunch with paul he said that scott had his own "wait buddy would not fucking say that" moment in the revision process). even tho buddy is scott, a buddy cole piece doesn't feel complete unless the both of them are part of it, which i think is really cool

anyway i'm gonna cut it there bc oh my god this is a long post, but there's so much more i wanna know. like ok scott came up with buddy cole while they were working on mouth congress in the 80s and there are a few mouth congress tracks with buddy on them, was buddy on mouth congress before kids in the hall? how did the character evolve then? how does scott view buddy cole as this character has essentially taken on an identity of his own for over half his life? and tbh the one i'm most intrigued by which i really want to interview scott about at some point: how has the character's view on femininity changed over time along with scott's view on the subject? (since that was the main topic of his most recent monologue and has always been an inextricable part of buddy's character) bc like one of my favorite things about comedy is how often comedy is the act of telling on yourself, and scott is the king of telling on himself

anyway it's bizarre to me that nobody has made this kind of buddy cole deep dive before but i guess that just gives me the chance to be the person who does it

feeling the buddy cole brainrot today i just wanna infodump about him and research him so much thank god i'm getting academic credit for this next semester