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karaonasi · 6 months ago

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BaxterMC Week hosted by @minthe-drawings

Entry #2 for Date Night

Lovely artwork by @rui-drawsbox

Midnight Romeo

Playlist: Crazy For You

///

My hands shook as I held my phone in my hands. Honestly I wasn’t used to texting Baxter. Usually, we utilized our own little system of ‘calling cards’ left on each others’ doorsteps to communicate. But this time that wouldn’t work. It needed to appear out of the blue.

[Hey]

No. I deleted it.

[Good evening to you, Mr. Ward]

No. Lame.

Shit.

I made a couple more attempts before I finally decided to just type something polite but to the point.

[I hope I am not bothering you this late.]

[Actually, I was just wondering if there was a ‘too late’ for visitors for our resident Night Owl.]

SEND

I bit my lip as I held my breath waiting for an answer.

In fact, I knew that Baxter was still up. I had watched from the front entry window as the downstairs light in his house went out. So he would have gone up to bed but would not be sleeping yet. Yes. I know it’s bordering on stalking my boyfriend. And I would be lying if I said it was the first time I had looked out our windows for our hot neighbor up the street--even before we had officially started dating. But this time there was a reason behind it.

My phone started playing ‘Made You Look’ which I had assigned to Baxter and I thumbed the screen lock open…

[My most charming neighbor, Kit. What a welcome surprise to hear from you this evening.]

I snorted. Yup this was my boyfriend alright. Sexy as hell but his texting skills…well, they were odd to say the least. I continued to read:

[I am accustomed to my schedule at university where 11pm is merely the start of the evening. So I would say that generally anytime before 2am would be acceptable. Was there a reason for your query? ~Sincerely, Your Suitor, Baxter Alexander Ward]

I had to take a moment to stop laughing my ass off before I could truly process the text. He really could be adorably ridiculous at times.

[Just clarifying appropriate…foot placement in our dance]

[Wouldn’t want to step on any toes]

I bit my lip and stared at my screen, trying to decide if and what I should send by way of a goodbye. I was saved the trouble by a new incoming message.

No. Not a message, a sound file! I pressed play to be blessed with the sound of a deep purring laughter. “Oh my god…” I breathed Cove’s customary epithet, falling back onto the couch, clutching the phone to my heart as if shot with an arrow. When my heart calmed enough, I propped myself up on my arms and made sure to save that amazing sound in my phone. Then I realized there was another message attached.

[My Dear Kit,]

[To clarify]

[For you, I am available for practice--or lessons at any time.]

[Sincerely, Baxter Ward]

Seriously…this guy was soooo bad for my heart…

Quickly I ran upstairs to change into the outfit I had created just for this evening. I had planned this for a while, intending something fun and unexpected. But after both relatively disastrous ‘drink’ dates, I figured a life lesson in simple things might be worthwhile for my type-A boyfriend.

Several minutes later, I was standing below the balcony on the back side of Baxter’s condo. I was relieved to see that the light was still on. I wouldn’t want to wake him up. I wasn’t sure what time in the early morning hours would begin ‘Morning Baxter’ and the last thing I wanted was for him to fall off of the balcony in his morning haze due to me.

I pulled out my phone, holding it over my head ‘Say Anything’ style and played the theme song from the 1968 Zeffirelli version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. This was plan A. If Baxter didn’t come out, then plan B was throwing pebbles at his window. Luckily, I didn’t have to resort to such tactics. Out came the man in question, my heart clenching in my chest just from the sight of him stepping out onto the balcony.

Confusion was plain on his aristocratic features as he leaned over the railing, brown eyes blinking down in the darkness below. “Kit?”

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Baxter is the sun.”

Yes, it was cheesy. And I had a hard time keeping a straight face as I recited the lines--with minor alterations. I almost wished Lee was here. Almost. Because I wouldn't have shared this time alone with Baxter.

“Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

That thou, her master, art far more fair than she…

The brightness of his cheek would shame those stars…”

I continued to the end of the verses before taking flight, my feet finding footholds in the side of the house until I could grab the balusters and lift myself up to climb over the railing. I’ll be honest with you. This wasn’t my first attempt. While Baxter had been up in Northern California I maaaay have practiced this once or twice (or more than twenty times) until I could do it as well as I saw in the YouTube videos I had researched. I’m just lucky that the neighbors are used to the sight of me and Cove climbing in and out of our houses at any hour of night so that I didn’t get the police called on me.

Having made it safely onto the balcony, I sat perched on the corner of the railing, unable to suppress the fact that I was rather pleased with myself. I just hoped Baxter was as well.

Baxter simply stared at me, blinking for a moment and I thought that perhaps I had miscalculated and he had fallen asleep already and I woke him. But no. After a moment, he seemed to recover himself. “Kit, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this evening?”

A shiver ran down my spine straight to my lower region with the slight but definite emphasis on the word ‘pleasure’. Not helping was the easy view of his very inviting queen sized bed through the open sliding glass door to his bedroom. Neither was his attire: black silk pajamas practically calling out to be touched. As opposed to his customary black and white button down shirts that were always buttoned to the very top, the collar of his pajamas, even fully buttoned, left an enticing view of the hollow at the base of his throat. Not to mention a glimpse of where the dip below his collar bones swelled slightly into the very top of a lithe but defined chest…all covered by pristine pale pink skin that made my mouth want to--

I swallowed hard, tearing my thoughts away from that dangerous line of thought. I hadn’t come here to lust on my boyfriend and, even if I had, I knew that these impulses of my newfound libido were more than I was prepared to handle. I blinked and refocused upon the handsome face of my much too tempting boyfriend. He leaned casually against the doorframe to his open bedroom and I had to mentally redirect my unruly body’s impulses again from the sensual grace with which he moved.

My lips tilted into a lop-sided smile as I stood, leaning against the corner of the balcony. “In the spirit of our discussion after the theatre outing, I thought we could have a nice impromptu date tonight,” I explained, though I was also looking for consent from him.

His gaze raked over my long body, taking in the medieval-style doublet I had managed to put together and tight leggings, making everywhere his gaze touched seem to tingle. Then he looked down at his own attire, holding out his arms to more effectively show off the pajamas. “Alas, I fear I am not attired for such an occasion.”

I shook my head with a chuckle at the fact that he was purposely speaking with more antiquated formality than even his ‘normal’ due to the theming. “No. You are perfect as you are, Bax.” I couldn’t help the slight huskiness of my tone from just how attractive I found him—and not just on the outside. I loved his playfulness and sense of fun (when he wasn’t berating himself for small offenses), as well as the sharp wit of an even sharper mind. I stepped closer to him, reaching over his head to the eve of the house and batted at the edge so that a string white twinkle lights that I had rigged earlier fell into view. “I thought we could simply have our date here—“ I pulled out my phone, turning on the playlist of songs suitable for ballroom dance and set it upon the railing. Then I turned to him with a formal bow and held my hand out to him, “if you would be so kind as to favor me with this dance.”

His beautiful eyes lit up in the twinkling white lights and he kicked off the doorframe to take my hand. “Certainly, my Dear Kit,”

My breath hitched as his other hand found my waist, pulling my body close to his as well as from the small endearment. And we moved in synchrony, making full use of the small space.

“See? Something doesn’t have to be ‘ideal’ to be perfect, Bax.” I commented as we danced. “I don’t know about you but I find this, tonight, pretty damned perfect,” I murmured slightly huskily into his ear. And it was: the lights, the warm salt breeze, the ¾ moon in the sky, and the boy whom I had dreamed of for so long in my arms.

His lovely elfin face turned up to meet my eyes. “Yes,” he purred though his tone was softer, less…sensual than usual. “You know, we haven’t danced since that night at the Cypress. Not truly.”

Actually, we had danced on the boat Lee had hired for the day--even Cove. But that had been club dancing to a techno beat—which was definitely not the same thing as Baxter’s favored ballroom variety. Still it had been fun for the short time it lasted. I bent so that my forehead touched his. “No, but we are right now, which is what matters,” I murmured, caught up in the dreamlike moment that simply being with Baxter conjured…so much like 5 years ago and yet so much more. Eventually he rubbed the upturned tip of his cute little nose to mine. I returned the gesture. Before I knew it, my lips slanted against his. The kiss was light and sweet. But my body’s reaction was anything but. My eyes widened as I felt the sudden spike of desire and pushed away from him. “I'm sorry!” I blurted out, my cheeks flaring hot.

“It’s okay, Kit,” he soothed. He paused, with a speculative expression upon his handsome features. “Sometimes you make me forget about your dating history.” He nodded to himself and then held his hand out to me. “And there’s nothing wrong with that,” he repeated the gentle reassuring words he spoke that day on the shopping street. I bit my lip, still not able to meet his eyes. But I took his hand and felt him pull me closer once again, though perhaps not fitting himself against me quite so tightly. “Honestly, it’s rather flattering. And cute.”

It still was hard to meet his eyes, even as close as they were. “I bet you say that to all your partners,” I teased.

He paused and I wasn’t sure if I had made another blunder. I was about to apologize again but I felt him take a small breath, then he let out a soft but definite, “…no…” My gaze now did meet his, and there was something almost…sad in those beautiful deep brown eyes of his. But it was gone quickly as if it had never been there, to be replaced with a flirty yet somehow open smile. “In any case, it’s the truth this time.” I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my features, my chest warming with happiness at Baxter’s unexpected confession. I bent my head to his again, our foreheads touching as our bodies continued to move in time with the music.

We spent a pleasant evening just dancing with each other on that balcony and learning more about each other…like how his favorite style is the waltz, and how I had come to favor modern dance styles recently. We attempted to salsa to contemporary music that wasn’t quite conducive to it until we both fell into laughter. By unspoken agreement, we declined a repeat of the club dancing. While fine in a group on a boat for a bit of fun, here alone together in the middle of the night…well, I was struggling enough without throwing kerosine onto the fire.

When it was time for me to go, I kissed him. Slow and a little deeper than my previous attempts this evening…tasting the edges of his parted lips, sharing his breath… I let go of him reluctantly and I wondered if I felt a similar reluctance in how his hands lingered on my clothing, or if that was just wishful thinking.

“Thank you for a wonderful evening, Darling Kit.”

“Sleep well, Bax,” I replied, knowing my face must be glowing from the joy bubbling up within me as I collected my phone. I swung one long leg over the railing, but Baxter stopped me.

“You know, you could use the front door,” he suggested with lifted brows.

“What kind of Romeo would I be if I didn’t use the balcony?” I chuckled playfully.

Baxter’s eyes closed and he shook his head with his own laughter. “You Californians really are wild.”

I winked at him before slipping the other leg over the railing. Impulsively, I turned around, quickly leaning toward Baxter to give him one last brief kiss before lowering myself in a controlled drop to the ground. I took one last look up at the slender figure on the balcony, giving a little wave before bounding off, my run turning into a solo dance of slow twirls, feeling like Eliza Doolittle in ‘My Fair Lady’:

“I could have danced all night

I could have danced all night

And still, have begged, for more…”

#baxtermcweek #kitkat #baxter ward #our life #our life beginnings & always #our life beginnings and always #olba #gb patch games #our life baxter #our life: beginnings & always #olba baxter

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camisoledadparis · 22 days ago

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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … November 2

1867 – Wassily Sapellnikoff (d.1941), was a Russian pianist. A more true transliteration of his name is Vasily Lvovich Sapelnikov, however he chose the above version for his appearances in the West.

Sapellnikoff was born in Odessa. He studied at the Odessa Conservatory and became professor of piano at Moscow Conservatory in 1897. He eventually moved to Leipzig and finally settled in Munich.

He toured with Tchaikovsky in Germany, France and England. At his debut in Hamburg in 1888, he played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor with the composer conducting. This concert was a great success and a catalyst for his budding career as a concert pianist in Western Europe. He was the first to play this concerto in England. He was the dedicatee of a piano piece by Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky wrote about him affectionately in his letters to his brother Modest, in terms such as: Since the time of Kotek I have never loved anyone so warmly as him. Because they spent so much time together on these tours, it is often asserted that he and Tchaikovsky were lovers. However, Alexander Poznansky, in Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man, writes:

it seems likely that an erotic element was present in Tchaikovsky's friendship with Sapelnikov and that he recognised it as such. Both men were quite young and good-looking. Almost certainly, however, their relations remained chaste.

Sapellnikoff first appeared in England in 1889 playing the Tchaikovsky concerto at a Royal Philharmonic concert, under the composer's baton. He became a favourite at Philharmonic concerts.

1906 – Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (d.1976) was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is notably known for his films The Leopard (1963) and Death in Venice (1971).

When he was thirty years old, he began his career in film, working as an assistant director and costume designer for French director Jean Renoir, whom he knew socially. As a result of his association with Renoir, Visconti became a leftist in politics. Although he had close connections with Mussolini's son Vittorio, he became active in the anti-fascist movement and, during World War II, in the Resistance.

Also in his early thirties, he had his first serious homosexual affair, with a young German photographer named Horst, who became a well known fashion photographer. The affair lasted three years, but their friendship endured until Visconti's death.

His first feature film, Ossessione (1942), with its insistence on location shooting, proletariat subject matter, and an unvarnished approach to reality, is acknowledged as the first manifestation of Neo-Realism. However, Visconti's film, Bellissima (1951), with a brilliant star performance by Anna Magnani, is a satire of Neo-Realism, as a working-class mother tries to get her little girl cast in a Neo-Realist film.

Early in his career he maintained a scrupulous detachment from the actors and singers whose careers he helped to launch; but by the end of the 1960s, he became passionately involved with several young artists. This aspect of his life came to light when letters that he wrote to several young men, including Helmut Berger, became public in the 1980s.

Visconti made no secret, to those close to him, of his homosexuality. His last partner was the Austrian actor Helmut Berger, who played Martin in Visconti's film The Damned. Berger also appeared in Visconti's Ludwig in 1972 and Conversation Piece in 1974 along with Burt Lancaster. Other lovers included Franco Zeffirelli, who also worked as part of the crew (i.e. production design, assistant director, etc.) in a number of Visconti's films and theatrical productions.

He died in Rome of a stroke at age 69.

1909 – The District of Columbia Court of Appeals reverses the vagrancy conviction of a man who had solicited a police officer for oral sex. It says a single immoral act does not constitute vagrancy.

Paul Thek by Peter Hujar

1933 – Paul Thek (d.1988) was an American painter and, later, sculptor and installation artist. Thek was active in both the United States and Europe during his life, staging a number of ambitious installations and sculptural works throughout his lifetime. Posthumously, he has been widely exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, and his work is held in numerous collections including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and Kolumba, the Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne.

Thek (born George Thek) was the second of four children born to parents of German and Irish ancestry in Brooklyn, New York. In 1950, Thek studied at the Art Students League of New York as well as Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, before entering Cooper Union School of the Arts in New York in 1951. Upon graduating in 1954, he moved to Miami, where he met and became involved with set designer Peter Harvey, who introduced Thek to a number of artists and writers such as Tennessee Williams.

During this time, Thek created some of his first known drawings, including studies in charcoal and graphite (now held in Kolumba's collections), later followed by abstract watercolors and oil paintings. Thek first referred to himself as Paul Thek starting in 1955; in a letter to Harvey, he writes: "Let me tell you who I am George Joseph Thek but Paul to you and Paul to me you would have to be me to know why I am Paul after all this erroneous George business."

In 1957, he exhibited his works for the first time at Mirrell Gallery in Miami. It was in Florida that Thek first met photographer Peter Hujar, who photographed Thek in Coral Gables.

By the end of 1959, Thek and Hujar, now a couple, were living in New York. Thek traveled to Italy in 1962, and with Hujar visited the Catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo, an experience which had a strong influence on his work.

During the 1960s, Thek and Hujar associated with a number of artists and writers including Joseph Raffaele, Eva Hesse, Gene Swenson, and Susan Sontag. Thek was particularly close to Sontag, who dedicated her 1966 collection of essays, Against Interpretation, to him. According to Sontag's biographer, the title and inspiration for the eponymous essay came from Thek. One day when Sontag was "talking about art in a cerebral way that many complained was a bore," he interrupted: "Susan, stop, stop. I'm against interpretation. We don't look at art when we interpret it. That's not the way to look at art."

In 1964, he participated in Andy Warhol's Screen Tests. It was during this time that he began to work in installation and sculpture, most notably creating wax sculptures made in the likeness of meat. Between 1964–67, Thek had three solo exhibitions of his famed Technological Reliquaries at Stable Gallery and Pace Gallery in New York.

Thek was awarded a Fulbright fellowship in 1967 to Italy, leaving New York shortly after his exhibition for The Tomb opened. The figure in Thek's Tomb was popularly associated with the American hippie movement and has often been mistitled as Death of a Hippie. He traveled and lived throughout Europe during the late 1960s and early 1970s and worked on large scale installations.After a peripatetic lifestyle, Thek took up permanent residence in New York in 1976 and began teaching at Cooper Union. Amid increasing emotional stress, he struggled to make and sell work, but began to show nationally and internationally again during the 1980s. He died on August 10, 1988 after learning he had AIDS.the year prior. After his death, Sontag dedicated AIDS and Its Metaphors to his memory.

1943 – Casey Donovan (d.1987) was an American male pornographic actor of the 1970s and 1980s, appearing primarily in adult films and videos catering to gay male audiences.

Following a brief career as a teacher and a stint as a highly-paid male model, Donovan appeared in the film that would cement his status as a gay icon, Boys in the Sand, in 1971. Attempts to build on his notoriety to achieve mainstream crossover success failed, but Donovan continued to be a bankable star in the adult industry for the next 15 years.

Casey Donovan was born John Calvin Culver in East Bloomfield, New York. He graduated from teachers' college in 1965 and after graduation he drifted into being a prostitute and relocated to New York City. He also began pursuing an acting career, appearing in summer stock theatre with the prestigious Peterborough Players.

In 1971, Culver played a supporting role in a low budget sexploitation thriller film, Ginger. This in turn led to an offer to appear in Casey, a gay pornographic film in which Culver played the title role, a gay man who is visited by his fairy godmother Wanda (Culver playing a dual role in drag), and is granted a series of wishes which make him sexually irresistible to other men. Culver later took the character's name, Casey, and that of the popular singer Donovan to create the pseudonym under which he would appear in all his other erotic roles.

Culver first appeared as Casey Donovan in Boys in the Sand, in 1971. The film was an instant success and is considered one of the great classics of male erotic cinema. With the success and celebrity he garnered from the film, Donovan believed that he would be able to cross over into mainstream film. While there were meetings with directors like John Schlesinger and Raymond St. Jacques and talk of casting him in mainstream projects including adaptations of novels by Mary Renault and Patricia Nell Warren, the only film opportunities opened for him were as the star of more erotic films.

Donovan had a successful national tour in the play Tubstrip, written and directed by Jerry Douglas. The play was critically deemed entertaining enough to its target gay audience (having earned, in the words of one critic, a "nationwide gay housekeeping seal of approval").

Donovan's iconic status allowed him to build a lucrative career as a high-priced prostitute although it would cost him his legitimate modeling career as more and more clients made the connection between model Culver and porn star Donovan. He wrote an advice column,"Ask Casey," for the gay-oriented Stallion magazine beginning in 1982.

In 1973 at the height of his popularity, Donovan met actor-turned writer Tom Tryon and the two entered into a long-term relationship the following year. Tryon was deeply closeted and grew increasingly disturbed by Donovan's notoriety. Their relationship ended in 1977.

By 1985, Donovan's health had begun to deteriorate, as he had contracted HIV. Although he had counseled his fans through his "Ask Casey" column as early as 1982 to reduce their number of sex partners and take steps to preserve their health and urged them to be tested for HIV once the test was developed, he himself made little or no effort to change his behavior. Donovan died in 1987 of an AIDS-related pulmonary infection in Inverness, Florida, aged 43.

1944 Patrice Chéreau (d.2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films La Reine Margot and Intimacy, and for his staging of the Jahrhundertring, the centenary Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976. Winner of almost twenty movie awards, including the Cannes Jury Prize and the Golden Berlin Bear, Chéreau served as president of the jury at the 2003 Cannes festival.

From 1966, he was artistic director of the Public-Theatre in the Parisian suburb of Sartrouville, where in his team were stage designer Richard Peduzzi, costume designer Jacques Schmidt and lighting designer André Diot, with whom he collaborated in many later productions. From 1982, he was director of "his own stage" at the Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers at Nanterre where he staged plays by Jean Racine, Marivaux and Shakespeare as well as works by Jean Genet, Heiner Müller and Bernard-Marie Koltès.

He accepted selected opera productions, such as: the first performance of the three-act version of Alban Berg's Lulu, completed by Friedrich Cerha, at the Paris Opera in 1979; Berg's Wozzeck at the Staatsoper Berlin in 1994; Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at La Scala in 2007; Janáček's From the House of the Dead, shown at several festivals and the Metropolitan Opera; and, as his last staging, Elektra by Richard Strauss, first performed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in July 2013. He was awarded the Europe Theatre Prize in 2008.

Chéreau was in a long-term relationship with his lover and favorite actor Pascal Greggory. He was not interested in gay topics, saying: "I never wanted to specialise in gay stories, and gay newspapers have criticised me for that. Everywhere love stories are exactly the same. The game of desire, and how you live with desire, are the same."

Chéreau died in Paris on 7 October 2013 from lung cancer. He was 68 years old.

1963 – Jonas Gardell, born in Enebyberg, Stockholm County, is a Swedish novelist, playwright, screenwriter and comedian. He is the brother of religion scholar Mattias Gardell. He is well known for his books and plays in all of Scandinavia and also published in Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.

Gardell's first novel, Passionsspelet (The Passion Play), was published in 1985. Since then, he has written some ten novels, including En Komikers Uppväxt (A Comedian Growing Up), which became a TV series. He has also written several other books, nine plays and two screenplays that were made into movies, including Livet är en Schlager (Life Is A Schlager). His novels are not yet available in English.

In 2006, more than 20 years after his first novel was published, Gardell is one of Sweden's most famous stand-up comedians and probably the country's most well-known openly gay man. His husband is the Finnish-Swedish-American writer and TV presenter Mark Levengood, with whom he has two children by surrogate mothers. Gardell performed his own play Tillfällig gäst i ditt liv (Temporary guest in your life) (2007) at the Scala Theater in Stockholm.

In 2013 JG was elected "Homo Bi Trans Person of the Year" at the Swedish Gay Gala, notably for the book "Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar" ("Never Wipe Any Tears Without Gloves") - for this, he was a popular choice. His well deserved price was presented to him by none other than the Swedish Crown Princess, HRH Victoria, whom Jonas thanked with the words: "Victoria, you are our Crown Princess, but tonight I think you are also - also our little queen?" - this went down well with the Crown Princess, whom Jonas knows well.

His husband, Mark, every year hosts the immensely popular "Victoria Dagen" at the Swedish island of Öland, when the Swedes celebrate HRH Victoria's birthday at the 14. July.

1966 – Writer and director Tim Kirkman was born in Monroe, North Carolina, the third child of a public school educator and a music teacher, and spent his childhood in nearby Wingate, North Carolina. He received a bachelors degree in graphic design from North Carolina State University and a master's degree in media studies from The New School in New York City.

His feature film debut, Dear Jesse, was released theatrically by Cowboy Pictures in 1998. A documentary film about the political and personal parallels between the gay filmmaker Kirkman and the notoriously anti-gay U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, Dear Jesse, made its cable television debut on HBO/Cinemax's "Reel Life" series and was nominated for an Emmy Award in the News/Documentary Writing category in 2000. The TV broadcast version of the film featured an interview with Matthew Shepard, a college student whose murder soon after called attention to gay-bashing and hate crimes.When the theatrical version opened in East Coast cities, Helms attacked the papers that reviewed it, claiming that "The New York Times and the Washington Post are both infested with homosexuals. … Just about every other person down there (at the Post) is homosexual or lesbian."

Cinemax's telecast was slightly different from the version Helms attacked. A postscript, taken from deleted scenes on the cutting-room floor, was been added. The film now ends with footage of the late Matthew Shepard, who was attending Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., when Kirkman interviewed him. After the 21-year-old student was murdered in Wyoming that year, Kirkman remembered the interview, found Shepard's signature on a release form and decided to add the footage to the end of "Dear Jesse."

"The sheer brutality of Matthew Shepard's murder brought the reality of gay-bashing into America's living rooms," said Kirkman, "but seeing Matthew as he was - a vibrant young man - will serve to humanize this tragedy."

Below is the Matthew Shepard footage:

youtube

His second film, the performance documentary The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, David Drake's solo off-Broadway hit play about writer Larry Kramer, was released by FilmNext in 2000. He also directed 2nd Serve, written by James Markert and starring Josh Hopkins and Cameron Monaghan.

Kirkman's narrative feature debut, Loggerheads, which he wrote and directed, premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature and won prizes at several film festivals across the United States, including the Grand Jury Prize at Outfest.

1977 - Today is the birthday of American actor Randy Harrison, Justin of Queer As Folk (US) . Harrison was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, but moved to Alpharetta, Georgia with his family at the age of eleven. He attended Pace Academy, a private prep school in Atlanta. His father is an executive with a large paper company, while he has described his mother as a "thwarted artist."

Randy, who is openly gay, has said: "I love my parents. Coming out to them was sort of coming out to myself. I educated them, and I wanted our relationship to keep growing. I wanted them to be a part of my life still. I wanted to be able to share with them what I was going through."

Harrison attended the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, where he ultimately received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre. During his time at CCM, he starred in university productions such as Hello Again, Shopping and Fucking, and Children of Eden. He also had other roles in other theatrical venues across the United States at the time.

Randy made his television debut playing Justin Taylor, a gay teen, in 2000's American version of Queer as Folk, based upon the British television series. Known for his optimism and cheery disposition, Justin was a gay teen who sought out a gay community in his hometown of Pittsburg. After losing his virginity to Brian Kinney (played by Gale Harold) during his senior year of high school, Justin falls in love with Brian, and their relationship becomes a central part of the series. "When you watch it, you're like, Wow. I look like that. But it doesn't feel like that at all. It was about communicating with Gale Harold and getting across what I wanted to say about the character," he said. The series ran for five seasons, ending in 2005. In 2007, the character of Justin Taylor was voted number three on the list of top 25 gay television characters of all time by AfterElton.

In 2002, Randy starred in the play Deviant at the New York International Fringe Festival. In the summer of 2004, Harrison made his broadway debut as Boq in the musical Wicked. His Off Broadway credits include A Letter from Ethel Kennedy (2002), Oak Tree (2006), Antony and Cleopatra (2008), Edward II (2007-2008) and The Singing Forest (2009). He also has a substantial resume in regional theatre, most prominently as a featured player since 2005 at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Roles with the BTF include Equus (2005), Amadeus (2006), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (2007), Mrs Warren's Profession (2007), Waiting for Godot (2008), Ghosts (2009) and Endgame (2010).

"It makes me proud, and it makes me scared," he said of acting. "More than anything, I want to be an actor and I want to keep working, and I think there's a danger in being perceived as a poster boy for something."

In 2006, Randy co-founded the Arts Bureau (tAB), an umbrella organisation encompassing theatre, film, music and writing. He shot and starred in the first tAB short film, Thinking, in 2008, which has since shown at several film festivals.

Randy dated Advertising Age columnist Simon Dumenco from 2002 to 2008; the two met when Dumenco interviewed Randy for a New York magazine cover story. Now single, he resides in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with his cats Ella and Aggie.

1983 – Fred Rosser who goes by the ring name of Darren Young is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE . Prior to signing with WWE, Rosser competed in Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic independent promotions including Chaotic Wrestling, East Coast Wrestling Association, Independent Wrestling Federation and the National Wrestling Alliance. He is also the first WWE performer to disclose that he is gay while still active with the company.

Rosser/Young was born in Union, New Jersey. He began watching professional wrestling during the mid-1980s and became interested in becoming a professional wrestler as a teenager, wrestling in several backyard wrestling federations. He attended Fairleigh Dickinson University where he played football for a year, before deciding to focus on his academic studies and professional wrestling.

Rosser became interested in becoming a professional wrestler as a teenager, wrestling in several backyard wrestling federations. He researched a number of wrestling schools before deciding on Camp IWF in West Paterson, New Jersey. This was due in part to his employer, whose uncle was a friend of a local wrestler training there at the time, and helped him enroll in the wrestling school.

In an interview released on August 15, 2013, he publicly discussed being gay, making him the first wrestler ever to come out while still signed to a major promotion. Later that day, WWE released a statement in support of Rosser for being open about his sexuality, and various fellow wrestlers tweeted their support for him. He also revealed that he had a stuttering problem throughout childhood.

2010 – Voters in El Paso, Texas pass an initiative that strips health insurance benefits from the unmarried partners of city employees. Supporters say that their intention was to target gay city employees and their partners.

#Youtube

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diceriadelluntore · 1 year ago

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Storia Di Musica #277 - AA.VV., Romeo + Juliet (music from the motion picture), 1996

La serie maggiaiola di dischi colonna sonora volge al termine. Per mia scelta iniziale, non ho considerato i classici opere di quei grandiosi giganti che hanno fatto delle colonne sonore quasi un nuovo ramo artistico (penso a Morricone, Zimmer, Williams, Rota, Badalamenti per dire i primi che mi vengono in mente), ho considerato alcuni lavori dove l’uso del brano rock fosse alquanto innovativo, direi di costruzione delle scene e non di semplice accompagnamento, e che furono anche motore di successo sia per il film che per le canzoni che compongono la colonna sonora. La scelta di oggi è caduta sul film di Buz Luhrmann, Romeo + Juliet, del 1996, una ripresa quasi del tutto integrale del classico dramma di William Shakespeare: il regista utilizza in maniera quasi identica trama e dialoghi, cambiando solo l’ambientazione, spostando le vicende dalla splendida Verona italica a Verona Beach, sobborgo di Los Angeles, negli anni ‘90 del ‘900, dove Montecchi e Capuleti sono due potenti famiglie dedite al malaffare che si combattono non a colpi di spada ma di armi da fuoco. Luhramm affida i temi orchestrali a Nellee Hooper, Craig Armstrong e Marius De Vries e ad una serie di canzoni rock, che compongono il primo volume della colonna sonora. Infatti ne furono pubblicati due: il primo è il riferimento alla storia di oggi, il secondo uscì dopo il successo del primo, racchiudendo i temi orchestrali principali e alcune canzoni secondarie. Il disco racchiudi molteplici artisti e molteplici generi: la canzone principale, il tema d’amore, è la ballata pianistica, toccante, Kissing You di Des’ree, che in quei mesi aveva scalato le classifiche di mezzo mondo con il sound accattivante del suo singolo You Gotta Be. Hooper e De Vries remixano una b-side del primo singolo dei Garbage, #1 Crush, che inizia con i gemiti sensuali di Shirley Manson. I Butthole Surfers perdono buona parte della furia iconoclasta della loro musica, ma regalano un brano eccellente in Whatever (I Had a Dream), scritto per l’occasione. C’è molta musica indie: dagli Everclear con Local God, il duo degli One Inch Punch con Pretty Piece Of Flesh, una delle canzoni più famose di Gavin Friday, Angel, che verrà usata anche in molte pubblicità. C’è una parte che recupera due canzoni del passato: Young Hearts Run Free è una canzone scritta da David Crawford, che fu portata al successo nel 1976 da Candi Station, fino al numero 1, e che qui è ripresa da Kym Gazelle; Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) fu il brano più utilizzato nei club di Ibiza nel 1991, ed è il maggior successo di Rozalla, una artista dance dello Zimbabwe, ed è ripresa qui da Quindon Tarver, che ha pure un cameo nel film. C’è anche un trittico di canzoni di gruppi svedesi: la delicata Little Star di Stina Nordenstam, il più grande successo del gruppo The Wannadies, You And Me Song (del 1994), ma soprattutto Lovefool dei Cardigans di Nina Perssons, uscito poche settimane prima come singolo e che divenne un successo strepitoso anche per via del clamore del film. Rimangono una bellissima ballata di Mundy, un cantautore irlandese che diventerà un produttore discografico fondando una sua propria etichetta, con To You I Bestow, e una canzone dei Radiohead, Talk Show Host, una b-side del singolo Street Spirit (Fade Out), che faceva parte del disco dello stesso anno, 1996, The Bends. Thom Yorke scrisse però per il film una canzone speciale, ispirata, secondo tutte le interviste che in seguito concesse, ad un’altra famosa trasposizione del dramma del Bardo Romeo e Giulietta, quella del 1968 diretta da Franco Zeffirelli. Exit Music (For a Film) fu usata per i titoli di coda del film di Luhrmann, ma non nella colonna sonora per precisa scelta di Yorke: la canzone diventerà poi leggendaria poichè è nella scaletta di Ok Computer, lo storico capolavoro dell’anno successivo, 1997. Luhrmman userà in tutti i suoi lavori brani rock in modo particolare, e massima testimonianza di ciò sono il musical Moulin Rouge del 2001 e Elvis del 2022, dove in entrambi i casi porta a casa una nomination all’ Oscar per la miglior regia. Il film sarà un successo al botteghino, e lo fu anche la colonna sonora: arriverà al numero 2 della classifica di Billboard, e venderà solo negli USA 3 milioni di copie, fu il trampolino di lancio per gli attori (Di Caprio l’anno successivo, nel 1997, era in Titanic), per alcuni dei protagonisti di questa colonna sonora (soprattutto i Cardigans) e per lo stesso Luhrmann.

#aa.vv.#romeo+juliet (o.s.t.)#1996 #recensione

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smokeinmotion · 3 years ago

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editschalamet · 3 years ago

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like or reblog; please don’t repost without credits.

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maraskolnikova · 5 years ago

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Il Mio Zeffirelli <3

zeffirelli ~

#zeffirelli b&W #TFD stills #zeffirelli stills

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growup-thatbeautiful · 3 years ago

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Im not sure if requests are open but sending one anyway (if youre not accepting im sorry pls trash this!) But if you are, how about a zeffirelli x reader where reader always beats him in chess? Like y/n is super good but also our boy zeffy gets distracted just looking at y/n when she's thinking? 👉👈🥺

NONNIE I SAW THIS AND HAD TO SCREAM INTO A PILLOW THIS IS SO SWEET <333333

please tell me it’s not to obvious that i know nothing about chess

Pretty

“Zeffirelli, it’s your turn,” you say. There’s only so much stating that you can reasonably tolerate. And he’s been staring for the whole game.

Not that that’s unusual at all. In fact, most of the time he’s staring at you. He makes a move, and you’re quick to make your next one, taking one of his knights.

“You know, usually you make it harder for me to beat you than this. It’s almost like there’s something distracting you,” you say lightly, playing with the ends of your hair in the way you know drives him crazy. If he notices, he tries to cover it up with a cough.

You spin one of his chess pieces in between your fingers, twisting it around. It’s a habit you just can’t seem to get rid of. You look up as discreetly as possible, noticing that Zeffirelli is yet again staring at you. He’s got that look in his eyes, the one that shows you how much he loves you. You have no resistance to that look. You hope you never do.

“I never get distracted,” he says. You motion for him to move, which he does. This time, you have to think about what to do next.

“Are you going to make your move, flower?” he teases, raising his eyebrows. You flip him off with on hand and play your turn. Once you’ve gone, Zeffirelli doesn’t immediately make his move, opting to look at you a little while longer, the moving chess piece between your fingers.

“Come on, Zeff, we don’t have all day. I distinctly remember plans for a movie night and promises for popcorn.”

“I’m only going to do that if you stop judging me for getting lost in your beauty,” he says, moving his piece, which, again, you take.

“Sap,” you say.

“Only for you,” he replies with a grin.

“I definitely know that’s not true. You’re like this to everyone. Even that dying flower outside your window.”

“Darlene is a beautiful soul,” he defends. “But I don’t stare at her while I lose at chess. Which, by the way, doesn’t happen normally. You’re too distracting,” he whines.

“Not my fault,” you say. “And, checkmate. Good luck getting out of this one.”

“I give up,” he says, putting his head in his hands. “I’m never going to beat you. I’ve never lost to someone as must as I’ve lost to you.”

“Poor baby,” you laugh, coming around to his side of the table and ruffling his hair. “I won’t tell anyone that you keep losing to me. I will tell absolutely everyone about Darlene, though.”

“When did you start doing that thing?” Zeffirelli asks, going into the kitchen to make tea, kissing your cheek when he passes by.

“What thing?” You follow him into the kitchen and sit on the island.

“The thing with the chess piece.” He does a twirling motion and a sound effect, making you laugh. “You know.”

“Oh I don’t even know when it started. I just always have to have something in motion in order to help me think. It’s better than chewing my nails or scratching my skin.”

“So if I take your chess pieces away, you won’t win?” he asks, as evil a grin he can possibly have on his face.

“Keep your evil plans to yourself, Romeo. It doesn’t really work if you tell me.”

“It’ll work. I’ll distract you with my outstanding dancing.” As an example, he pulls you close to him and waltzes you across the tiles.

“You know, you may be terrible at chess against me, but you make me laugh, Zeffirelli B.”

“I am not terrible at chess!“ he exclaims, spinning you. “I’m just terrible at keeping my eyes off you.”

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claudiobaglionicantastorie · 2 years ago

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Nel 1972 la RCA commissiona Baglioni per interpretare i tre brani della colonna sonora del film Fratello Sole e Sorella Luna di Franco Zeffirelli: Fratello sole e sorella luna, Preghiera semplice di Riz Ortolani – Benjamin e Canzone di San Damiano di Donovan – Benjamin. Baglioni li canta anche nel disco della colonna sonora.

FRATELLO SOLE SORELLA LUNA/PREGHIERA SEMPLICE/CANZONE DI S. DAMIANO

Interprete: Claudio Baglioni

Etichetta: RCA Italiana

Catalogo: PM 3648

Data di pubblicazione: Marzo 1972

Matrici: BKAS 26490/BKAS 26491

Supporto:vinile 45 giri

Tipo audio: Stereo

Dimensioni: 17,5 cm.

Facciate: 2

Note: Dalla colonna sonora originale del film "Fratello sole sorella luna" (Franco Zeffirelli, 1971) / Distribuito da RCA Italiana - Roma

Torna indietro

BRANI

Lato A

FRATELLO SOLE SORELLA LUNA

Autori: Jean-Marie Benjamin, Riz Ortolani

Lato B

PREGHIERA SEMPLICE

Autori: Jean-Marie Benjamin, Riz Ortolani

CANZONE DI S. DAMIANO

Autori: Jean-Marie Benjamin, Donovan

ORCHESTRA

Riz Ortolani

EDIZIONI MUSICALI

Chappell

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mymoviemania-74th-cannes · 3 years ago

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In Competition - Feature Films:

The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021), directed by Wes Anderson.

Вased on a story by Anderson, Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Jason Schwartzman.

Bill Murray as Arthur Howitzer Jr. Benicio del Toro as Moses Rosenthaler Adrien Brody as Julien Cadazio Tilda Swinton as J. K. L. Berensen Léa Seydoux as Simone Frances McDormand as Lucinda Krementz Timothée Chalamet as Zeffirelli Jeffrey Wright as Roebuck Wright Mathieu Amalric as The Commissaire Liev Schreiber as Talk Show Host Elisabeth Moss as Alumna Edward Norton as The Chauffeur Willem Dafoe as Albert the Abacus Saoirse Ronan as First Showgirl Christoph Waltz as Paul Duval Cécile de France as Mrs. B Anjelica Huston as The Narrator

Costume Design by Milena Canonero

Set Decoration by Rena DeAngelo and Hélène Dubreuil

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gifettosullaria · 2 years ago

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Don Giovanni

Bryn Terfel, Renée Fleming, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Solveig Kringelborn, Paul Groves, Hei-Kyung Hong, John Relyea, Sergei Koptchak The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, James Levine Production by Franco Zeffirelli, 2000

Act 1 - B. A public square outside Don Giovanni's palace - 1. Donna Elvira Encounter

The scene changes to a street, where Giovanni, with Leporello, is searching for fresh entertainment. He scents a woman in the air, and they conceal themselves. Donna Elvira enters, distractedly seeking the man (Don Giovanni of course) who won her and deserted her in Burgos. Giovanni steps out to console and woo her, but then realise who she is; he quickly excuses himself, and leaves Leporello to explain to Elvira that she is but one of his victims - of every country, every age, every station, who is Spain alone number more than a thousand - and that she can rest no hopes in him.

Index - Next Scene

#GIFetto #wolfgang amadeus mozart #orchestra #Opera #Don Giovanni #Bryn Terfel #Leporello #Ferruccio Furlanetto #Donna Elvira #Solveig Kringelborn #Met Opera

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mirrortext · 3 years ago

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French Dispatch Artistic Anaylsis

Hannah Quinton

11/1/2021

English 157 French Dispatch essay

In the 2021 motion picture by Wes Anderson, The French Dispatch is an allusion to the New Yorker and follows the story of a publishing company based in Liberty, Kansas where the editor Arthur Howitzer and his team of journalists meet to come up with ideas for their up-coming issue. The issue includes three stories. The first is the Cycling Reporter, which is simply about a man named Herbsaint Sazerac who travels on his bike around southwest France and describes the places and residents and describes how the story will be told in the cinematography and symbolism of the colors. The Second story we are told is called The Concrete Masterpiece follows a man named Moses- who has been locked up in jail and is serving a life sentence because he committed two homicides. Moses, however, is a genius artist where he paints his prison guard naked, a woman named Simone who is also his muse. While he is in prison though another prisoner, Julian Cadazio buys Moses’s artwork and takes it out to showings outside of the prison and makes Moses famous because of his talent with a brush. The third story is called Revisions to a Manifesto follows Zeffirelli, played by Timothee Chalamet who is a young rebellious kid in a group of activists and we follow him in his love life. For our last story, The private dining room of the police commissioner” we watch the story of a talk show host talks about his experience of a chef and police officer who cooks whenever he is in the station however it soon turns into a story about his son getting kidnapped and the talk show host and police officer going on a mission to save his son. Every single one of these stories portrayed by Anderson has a very similar way of using cinematography to explain to the viewers what's going on, for example the use of color. This is also very similar to many of the texts we are reading in the English 157 class, Comics and History, which is taught by William Nericcio. Some of the readings we do in this class also use the artwork to portray feelings and emotions.

To start off, Anderson is known for his gift of explaining a story through cinematography. Throughout this film it was more like reading a book rather than watching a movie because of the lack of camera movement. Every scene was typically in one frame and the camera stayed in the same place unlike traditional movies where the camera will follow the actors or just move around in general, instead Anderson kept the cameras still, which made the movie seem almost like a comic or a picture book. Of course this makes sense because Anderson is telling the story of a newspaper article so Andersons way of directing the scenes perfectly captures the idea of a comic strip in a newspaper. In the book Epiletic by David B. also does a great job of capturing signature moments like this when David B. describes the mental illness. They both use forms of artwork to describe what the story is about. We can also relate Frida Kahlo's illustrations to the Concrete Masterpiece where we watch Moses- the genius artist illustrates his love in an untraditional way of art that often confuses people with a traditional eye for art. Kahlo also uses an untraditional way to express her feelings in her artwork- when she first started painting it was unusual to hear about woman artists especially with nude artwork of herself with such deep meaning so when watching Moses started painting his love for Simone by using ‘modern art’ they both showed similarities in terms that they changed the idea of art.

Another important factor that lies within both the readings throughout the class and the stories told by Anderson is the use of color. During the Anderson stories in The French Dispatch most of the stories were told in black and white. It was only when in present time that it was in color, or when things in the stories had significant meaning. For example, the first showing of Moses’s art was in color, but after it was in black and white. In the first story, The Cyclicing Reporter he demonstrates that the past will be in black and white and the future will be in color and that outlines how the story will be shown with color. During the reading of the Parable of the Sower color is often used to visually show us Laurens hyper-empthay. Most of Parable of the Sower uses cooler tones and not much color except when Laurens abilities are shown. Color is a very important part of storytelling because of that and shows what the inner-meaning of a story can be, for example Laurens empathy is a prime example of how racism can affect people even if it isn't directly physical. The color in the French Dispatch is used to invoke the viewers of a classic 1920’s film so the viewer truly feels almost a part of a movie as if we were watching it in the 1920’s.

Another comparison you can point out is in the Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner and Ghost worlds are the comic strips they both used. In the film Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner they had a scene where the cop were chasing down the kidnapper of the son, the art style changed from black and white to a colored comic cartoon that looked like comic strips in a newspaper article. It was also very similar to the art style that David Clowes illistruates in the novel Ghost worlds. Anderson illustrated that this way because he wanted it to resemble the comic strip in the New Yorker as much as possible, and the comic strips of EIGHTBALL which is where the original Ghost World can be found. Comic strips were very common back in the day for being one of the only types of entertainment to be colorized, so for Anderson to use the color technique to make everything seem older except for the animated part is quite observant of him.

In Conclusion we can see that Wes Anderson used many artistic techniques in his films that authors use in their writing and illustrations. For example he used the art of color and his cinematography to really portray how a book or an article would be filmed. Many books such as Parable of the Sower have many similarities throughout the stories that Wes Anderson used.

#mirrortext #studentsubmission

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