Sean Penn: An antidote to the anti-gay RNC platform

I can't wait to see this.

If you can't wait either, see this first if you haven't yet.

I can hardly wait!

Had a great time with Mom. She spent three nights here, and we did a lot together, including a drive through the redwoods, a walk along the beach, the farmers' market, and a matinee of Sex and the City.

On our way to the movie, we told Mom it would probably be kind of "nasty." She said, "I can hardly wait!"

Mom and Annie enjoyed the movie. For me, though, the movie had gotten such great reviews that I was expecting more. It was just okay for me (to quote Randy Jackson). If I had never seen the TV show, I don't think I would have liked it at all. The most pleasure I got out of the movie was the nostalgia of seeing all the women together again. I was drawing on the complexities of their characters from the TV show to fill in the blanks of the movie. The movie somehow felt less edgy and more surfacy than the TV show, with more focus on fashion. Even when the TV show highlighted fashion, those scenes were imbued with more ironic meaning.

This week I plan to plow forward on the novel. I feel like the research has been building up inside of me, and I'm ready to explore some living time with my characters.

In the back of my mind are the fact that an agent is looking at my memoir, a small press is considering one of my novels, and another small press is considering another one of my novels. ("I can hardly wait!" to hear . . . ) But I want to put all of this out of my mind as much as possible and focus on my art. It's too easy to let the business side derail me. The business side is ephemeral. The art is forever.

Sex and the lezzie

Annie and I have always enjoyed watching Sex and the City episodes on DVD, and we're looking forward to seeing the movie this weekend with my mom.

Our lives couldn't be any more different from the lives of the characters in the show. We don't care about shoes or clothes. We don't even like to shop (although Annie likes it more than I do). We could care less about trendy things. I hate martinis. And parties.

We love Manhattan, but just to visit. And when we're there we go to the museums and walk for miles through Central Park and along the city streets in our sensible shoes--not to clubs or trendy places.

Those trappings of the show, while fun, aren't what make it so great. What makes Sex and the City good is this: great writing, rich characters, and humor that bumps up against poignancy. (One reviewer called the movie "existential haute couture.")

There are a lot of lesbians out there who love this show that features four very heterosexual women. Oh, wait a minute--there's the episode where Samantha boinks a woman, but she doesn't like it a whole lot. And there are several gay male characters. Still, the focus of a lot of the show is the woman/man mating dance, normally not a big feature of most of what I'm drawn to view or read. But Sex and the City has four funny, complex female central characters who are irresistible.

And now there's another way I connect with the show, albeit at a slant: Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda, has a woman partner, Christine Marinoni. Cynthia was married to a man and then one day it became clear she was with Christine. I love that Christine isn't in the biz. Sure, Ellen and Portia de Rossi are pretty to look at, but Christine looks more like the women I know. Meaning, women who haven't been gussied up by Hollywood.

Cynthia had basically been under the radar until her relationship with Christine was reported in the media. In one article, Cynthia says this:

I never felt like there was an unconscious part of me around that woke up or that came out of the closet; there wasn’t a struggle, there wasn’t an attempt to suppress. I met this woman, I fell in love with her, and I’m a public figure.

I like she doesn't insist that she was "born that way." Instead she acknowledges sexuality as fluid. There's nothing wrong with being a lesbian or a bisexual woman (or a straight chick who loves girls!)--so there's nothing wrong with choosing to love who you love.

Has anyone seen Freeheld: The Laurel Hester Story? I haven't, but apparently it chronicles the fight of a terminally ill New Jersey woman to leave her pension benefits to her lesbian partner. It won the Oscar for Best Short Documentary last night (thanks Joe My God). Netflix doesn't carry it, so I just emailed them a request.

Why are people blowing a gasket over the release of this photo? It's a sad, sad day when trying on the traditional garb of a country doesn't point to your compassion, empathy and cultural expertise but instead at best is mocked as "silly" and at worst is said to imply you might be siding with "the terrorists."

Give me a break. It's an outrage when Muslims are lumped together as terrorists. And it makes me crazy that only a self-proclaimed old-style Christian could have a chance at winning the election. We'll have a woman President and Presidents of many colors (and maybe even a gay President)before we have a President who is Buddhist, Sikh, Pagan, Atheist, Rastafarian, or Agnostic. What's up with the Christian fetish? Why not more open minds, religiously speaking, in this democratic country of ours?

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At last: there's some solid national coverage (thanks Collin) of the horrible, homophobic murder of Lawrence King.

51 Birch Street

This movie is great. It reveals the truth of this family--and truths about all families--with brutal revelations and compassion.

We watched it the other night, and it's now one of my all-time favorite documentaries. It's the Uber home movie.

Music and Movies

I got Jinny Sagorin's CD in the mail. All I can say is: Why is "cabaret" a slam on American Idol? She proudly bears the cabaret label and is brilliant. Her interpretations of a wide array of songs--from Joni Mitchell, Freddie Mercury and the Beatles, to standards and musical classics--are gorgeous and not to be missed. Check her out here.

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Annie and I went to see Sicko today. All I can say is: SEE IT. It's the important film of the decade.

Republican, Democrat, it doesn't matter. Let me tell you, Bush & Hillary both get pies in the face on this one.

Not to mention, it's great filmmaking. As they say about all the classic films: I laughed, I cried. I really did.

Preview:



Interesting Sicko-related story:

Sunday, Sunday

Yesterday Annie and I needed an escape, so we escaped to an escapist movie, The Valet : perfect escapist fare. Not very deep but very enjoyable. I loved the film's tenderness toward the two main characters.

A beautiful day here. Annie and I are off for a dog walk then a bike ride.

Check out this blog tomorrow for the Monday Poetry Feature, starring a surprise poet! You will love her, trust me.