Where better to find homosexuals than in the theatre?


Whatever happened to that good old-fashioned Sodomite hospitality?

This isn't so much about the clothing although that's a nice cravat - but whoah, who knew that Gericault was the hotness? I'd rather gaze upon his self-portrait than The Raft of the Medusa!

All the fine arts are covered on this blog: It was good to see you again.

Labels: Hot Man in Regency Period Clothing of the Week, Sonnets

I see whineypants is still having a hissy fit over being accused of exploitation. But he's trying to pass it off as a joke, both twittering and blogging things to the effect of - hey, look at me - I'm an exploiter - hah hah.

I suspect that he believes that because actors are nice to him they are all perfectly happy with everything and never ever talk shit behind his back. Obliviousness is a kind of paradise, I suppose.

All these aging boys with their toys in their bubbles - it's like Edward Einhorn who told me once:

"Well, I think the theory behind it all is that the actors get the glory of having being on stage, which is why they are usually happy to work for free... "

People who have never lived hand-to-mouth seem incapable of conceiving of a world where other people do. And why would off-off Broadway / independent film actors living in New York during the worst economic times since the Great Depression need something as mundane and uncreative as money, anyway?

And yes, I don't mind at all if he links to my blog again and boosts my monetization. At least SOMEBODY is making money from this guy.

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Jane Campion - doesn't exploit actors, feminist, makes great movies with good dialog. That's the kind of director I like. Are they only found in New Zealand?

Since Ben Whishaw is in town I think I'll invite him to sit in on an NYCPlaywrights meeting. You never know...

Andrew Bellware is concerned that I didn't mention him by name when I pointed out how he exploited actors - one of his calls for actors even ended up in "Nudity Required, No Pay" a blog I've been following for awhile.

Here's a website/blog I've linked to before (you'll remember, she's the "nest of vipers" blogger). Nancy McClernan has been writing/snarking about me specifically in some of her blog posts and yet she doesn't use my name so I didn't find out 'till just now. Dammit!

So in this post I certainly hope I've remedied the situation to his satisfaction.

I never paid attention to Andrew Bellware until Feb. 2009 when he decided to post a link to my blog, complaining because I said something unflattering about Manhattan Theatre Source there. The irony of this escapes him, utterly - he says something nasty about Manhattan Theatre Source once a month. Apparently only he is allowed to criticize MTS.

It's funny that he didn't discover my parody of his movie "Angry Planet" for over a year after I posted it to my blog (in response to his attacking me in the first place), considering that some of his friends (looking at you NC) monitored my blog through most of 2009. Why didn't they mention it to him?

Bellware posted my parody in its entirety to his own blog, without my permission, because he's as clueless as he is shameless - but when you live in a world where people work for you for free I guess you really develop a hearty disrespect for everybody else's creative work.

I emailed him to point out he did not have my permission - he then published my email address along with my email, and wrote:

Ooh! Legal consequences! Well I'll truncate the boring parts where it repeats itself anyway, that'll reduce the tl;dr part of our lives on the blog.

Repeats itself - yes because I was parodying your film. I guess the concept of "parody" escapes him.

In response to my email he "truncated" the parody - so of course the parody is reduced in effect - which I presume is what he wants. The parody is not very long in the first place - it gets in, makes its point and gets out. But as I said - no respect for other people's work.

It's amusing that he makes a point of saying what a waste of time my commentary/parody is, while he's obsessing over it.

And he can't figure out how to find the individual number of a blogger post and actually whined to me in his response to my email that I didn't provide it to make linking easier.

Like most exploiters, Bellware tries to make the issue about "prurience" - that is a favorite defense of the poor-Roman Polanski brigade. People were out to get Polanski because they HATE TEH SEX! Those puritanical Americans! As if Polanski did not drug and rape a 13-year old and then scamper off.

It's not about nudity, it's about not paying actors for nudity. Only an idiot - or someone being willfully obtuse - could fail to get that.

I do worry that if people see my parody they will want to see his movie, the way people like to see The Room, the famously bad movie.

And "Angry Planet" really is bad. It's not the actors' fault - many of them are very good in spite of the nonsensical script. And Bellware, I already explained just one facet of why your movie sucks - back in May 2009 - your "friends" seem to have let you down again.

I see that the posts on his blog, right after his attack on me, are all defensive about the fact that he doesn't pay actors - they get "points" - the film world's version of stock options instead apparently. But clearly my criticisms are having some effect - so all you actors who've donated your time and talent to his movies: if you ever see a dime, you'll probably have me to thank, at least in part.

UPDATE: Bellware's internet buddies are as clueless as he is. One of them writes in the comments:

legal consequences!?! that is five kinds of special, she reserves the right to mock and snipe at endless length and you are the target of her vitriol.

He either doesn't know, or doesn't care that:

Bellware attacked me, publicly, first in 2009.

A parody is free speech.

A creative work - which includes parodies - is property belonging to the author. There are laws about using people's work without their permission. Bellware is either unaware of this, or doesn't give a damn.

Bellware posted an annoucement offering to "hire" an actress to perform nude for no pay - this ended up on a blog that specializes in highlighting actor exploitation, specifically the exploitation of actresses who are constantly being asked to perform nude for no pay. Only a creep would make such an offer - and he's still a creep even if there are actresses desperate enough to agree to such working conditions.

It is my First Amendment right to express my opinion of Bellware's actions - and Bellware has certainly availed himself of such a right - first.

Bellware is not the only director who expects actors to work for free - the exploitation of actors in NYC is rampant. And these are the same people who throw gigantic hissy fits - as Bellware has done - if ANYBODY suggests that they might have some ethical failings. I suppose they don't get much pushback in their privileged existences, normally, and any they do get is absolutely shocking.

But if Lindsay Stewart really wants a sonnet, I can oblige - although I already have a limerick in mind, ready to go.

****

I do owe Bellware a little - thanks to the increase in web traffic he's sent my way, I'm making money through link clicks.

When you spend your days exploiting unpaid labor, you tend to undervalue other people and their work. This is why a director whose work inspired a short piece of mine decided that it would be perfectly acceptable to reproduce my entire work on his blog without my permission.

I will seek legal advice on how to proceed.

They are so different... but each so wonderful in his own way...


Evgeni Plushenko - I cannot describe this performance, except that it's perfection.

And that nerdy genius Paul Krugman - A WHOLE PROFILE IN THE NEW YORKER - FINALLY!

But on the left he was revered. "The book tour for 'The Great Unravelling' was like revival meetings, because so few people were speaking out then," Krugman says. "There was a great event—it was in Berkeley, which devalues it a bit - but there was this event with a joint appearance by Al Franken, Kevin Phillips, and me, with three thousand people in the audience, and when we walked onstage we got a standing ovation. That would have been 2004." "I remember one woman saying, 'I thought I was going crazy until I read you,' " Wells says. "He gave a talk for a small bookstore in Marin County, and the town was so small they didn't have a place big enough to hold it, so they held it in a local church, and they had to open the windows, because people were outside listening."

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/03/01/100301fa_fact_macfarquhar?currentPage=all#ixzz0gJTPuZrw

ANY DAY 2 is the name of the movie being produced by one of the characters in my upcoming web cast series. I just have to find enough bob-cut wigs and ho-clothes for the lady actors.

Of course if actors are willing to be exploited - to act in shitty movies for no pay - nothing can stop them - not even the Screen Actors Guild or Actors Equity, apparently.

During yesterday's rehearsal for SODOM & GOMORRAH: THE ONE MAN SHOW one of the actors used the term "showmance" to describe the often short-term, embarrassing sexual relationship that sometimes develops between two actors during the course of theater productions. And the very worst is when one of the actors is married and you have to meet the actor's spouse. Awkward!

I love the term, though and plan to use it.

One of the actors had an hysterical story about a production of "The Nutcracker" that she was in, during which one of the female actors was having sex backstage with the actor playing the Nutcracker - in the magic sleigh that goes to Nutcracker land - while the guy was wearing the giant Nutcracker head. I fell on the floor laughing at the image - I am trying to convince her to write a monologue about it - if she doesn't soon, I will write the damn thing myself.

ah, memories...

Labels: Sonnets

Ophelia needs to write her poem(s) on a blog - that worked for me!

OK, I don't love this image so much, even though the guy is cute - I guess because he's not wearing a jacket - and he has an open collar, not a darling cravat. And the short sleeve is lame-o.

But I think the name of this novel is really funny, so voila.

Labels: Hot Man in Regency Period Clothing of the Week

I see you pussycat

Labels: Sonnets

Ah yes, another play forged in the bitter flames of actor betrayal and mendacity - it is a foundry that runs hot 24/7.

Wordsmiths

Somebody remind me again why I fuss and fret about the way actors are exploited.

UPDATE: hmmm.... judging from the statistics on the visitors who read this play, it takes about four minutes to read.

Do I wake or do I dream?

Labels: Sonnets

Mike Giorgio is really going to town in the role of Oliver, the actor doing the one-man show in my play.

My Darlington excerpt now has been read 1001 times, rated by 7 people for a total of 3.86 out of 5. Although I'm confused - it was rated 3.75 before, by 8 people - so I guess one of the hatahs removed their vote?

It's the Year of the Tiger

I can't believe I've never heard of the Eight Immortals of the Chinese Tao pantheon.

I can still hardly believe that Albert (pronounced al-BEAR) Capsouto is gone. He died of a brain tumor in January at the age of 53. All the Freres were attentive hosts at their restaurant Capsouto Freres, but he might have been the nicest. I'm going to Capsouto for my birthday and I'm not sure what to say to them. I guess the only thing to say is "sorry for your loss."

More about Albert here.

Diana Gaston, the author of "The Reputable Rake" tells Risky Regencies why she likes this book cover:

This is why I LOVED my cover for A Reputable Rake. I could not have asked for a better cover, by far my favorite. The Rake is just so handsome and his expression perfectly represents the hero of the book.

I concur - he's a hotty. The longer than usual hair makes the difference I think but also, he's slightly more boyish and pretty than the standard rock-hard jaw guys most often used in these things.

Diane has her own blog, and she provides an excerpt from the novel and alas, it's rather lame. However, the story of the woman who inspired the heroine of her novel is pretty interesting - and better written.

Labels: Hot Man in Regency Period Clothing of the Week

Interesting stuff - here's The Mystery of Darlington Manor, "A Dramatic Adventure for Castle Falkenstein."

And then there's The history and antiquities of the parish of Darlington published in 1854 - ooh, research for my story.

And here's Darlington House, a fancy-schmancy restaurant.

Ooh, and I was Elvis Presley's Bastard Love Child by Andrew Darlington. OK, getting pretty far afield now.

back to the Curse

Labels: Darlington Curse

It's the New Yorker's 85th anniversary.

I NEVER get tired of this song and performance. But I have been literally searching for over four years now for a translation - or even just the lyrics in Maori. You can even see the proof here - I begged for a translation on a Maori web site in November 2005 - I've also asked anthropologist friends. And to this day, I've still got bupkis.

I do know the song is in B major because I figured it out on the guitar once. I'd love to do a whole Maori musical.

"Bright Star" is now available from iTunes - I immediately downloaded it as soon as I saw that. And so I had the luxury of viewing all my favorite scenes several times.

The picture above is a screen cap from a favorite scene, where the young men of the town - one of them refers to them as the "Hampstead Heathens" - put on a concert. I was pleased to see in the credits that Ben Whishaw actually did sing in the chorus. And I got to hear again his reciting of Keat's Ode to a Nightingale over the credits as well.

What a wonderful piece of film-making is "Bright Star" - from the attention to the ordinary details of early 19th century England to the wonderful performances to the heart-rending reality of poor John Keats' early death (at 25). And also, something dear to my heart: the solace of poetry in the face of romantic anguish and desolation. The final scene has Fanny wandering the woods grieving and longing for Keats, reciting his poem "Bright Star" like a prayer.

Keats was quite opinionated on the subject of poetry, which really doesn't come through clearly in the movie, but at one point he explains to Fanny - and the quote comes from one of his letters on the subject:

"A poem needs understanding through the senses. The point of diving in a lake is not immediately to swim to the shore; it's to be in the lake, to luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not work the lake out. It is an experience beyond thought. Poetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery."

Well said, Keats.

When I compare a movie like this to some of the stupid movies in the world - especially ones that are pointless, derivative exercises in degradation, and to make the degradation absolute, the crass orcish filmmakers find it expedient to exploit actors and mock their professionalism in order to generate pure effluvia - the contrast could not be starker. Those movies are hideous, while "Bright Star" is beautiful.

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever" said John Keats.

Well said, Keats.

Oh my loyal reader, oh for the key

Googling "Mr. Darcy" is a sure-fire way to conjure up a cornucopia of Regency hotitude.




Oh Mr. Darcy!

Labels: Hot Man in Regency Period Clothing of the Week

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My two favorite guys.

Well now my excerpt from the Darlington Curse has been read 948 times, still received only 8 votes and has a rating of 3.50 out of 5. But I finally got some feedback, via email:

You write well. For me, this means you create a tangible sense of setting and give a lot of color and detail around the characters. It draws me in. When you inject erotic situations into this mix, it is all the more arousing. In short, you get the imagination going and that drives everything else.

And, don't think I didn't notice the appearance of boots in this story. Hmm, I might have to wear some sexy boots

He also read my first Literotica story, hence the boots reference. And I think he's flirting with me.

Out of the blue, another sonnet.

Labels: Sonnets

The entire Darlington story to date, in one long html document.