So, there's a new trailer for Green Lantern, DC's answer to Captain America. It stars my #3 obsession* Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, the first human chosen to be a protector of the Universe. Or something - Green Lantern was not one of my favorite DC characters and I actually know very little about him, other than he is one of hundreds of Green Lanterns throughout the Universe.
Reynolds is a Canadian hottie who worked his way through the Hollywood system, starting with the abysmal TV sitcom "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" which also starred the much-hotter-at-the-time Richard Ruccolo (All Over the Guy) and adorably gorgeous "Castle" and Slitherstar, Nathan Fillion. Sadly, Ruccolo's career seems to have stalled while Reynolds' and Fillion's have taken stratospheric leaps.
Anyway, Green Lantern opens June 17th, the weekend before Die Mommie Die!, which means I may actually get to see it before hell week begins. Here's the newest trailer, via Yahoo!Movies:
And in case you're wondering, my top five obsessions are:
Well, it's after 11:00 PM Eastern Time and I'm still here. I'm betting you are, too. Loony fundie followers of Reverend Harold Camping have been proclaiming that today was the "guaranteed" day of the Rapture. I'm hoping for Camping's donors' sake that that was a money back guarantee,
Camping has been silent all day. No surprise there. He previously predicted that the world would end in 1994. Of course, he may have been assumed to Heaven along with the 2% of the population he claimed would be taken today. Since we just had a census here in the US last year, I guess it will be a while before we find out if there has been 2% reduction in the population. But what about that rolling earthquake Camping claimed would start in the East Pacific and make its way westward? No reports of damage have surfaced, so we must assume it was a bust, as well.
I went out at 6:00 PM EST, looking skyward, but saw no bodies floating up (unless you count my stoner neighbor who seems to float skyward around 6:00 PM every night...). No earthquakes. No interruption in electrical services. No zombies. No Rapture. What a ripoff!
Now I want to know what happens to the hundreds of folks who fell for Camping's charlatanism. Many of them quit their jobs and sold their homes. One man in NYC spent $140,000.00 - almost his total life's savings - to take out ads on buses and in NYC subway terminals, proclaiming the End was nigh. Is he embarrassed? Does he feel like a fool? I hope at the least, he'll be able to sue Camping's Family Radio (by some estimates worth $79 Million) to recoup his loss. Sadly, I heard a report about a woman who suffocated her child to spare him from the coming Tribulation... I hope that's not true.
Here's the thing - more people have been tortured and/or killed in the name of "God," than any other reason in history. The Crusades decimated millions of Muslims, Hitler killed 6 million Jews and the fanatic followers of Osama bin Laden murdered over 3000 people over the course of three hours. I have read all of the Bible; much of the Q'uran; most of the Bhagavad Gita and the writings, musings and thoughts of many religious scholars in my personal quest for spiritual enlightenment. While some of them advocate the killing of specific "sinners," not a single one of them advocates genocide. And none of them have been able to satisfactorily answer my questions on the meaning of life. Well, almost none (may be NSFW):
Still, I'm so glad we're all still around to make fun of the fine folks who still believe. And if you are a believer, don't take it personally. Whatever lets you sleep at night.
Well, I suppose this is my (and every other blogger's) last post. After tomorrow, there won't be any electricity to power the Internet and none of us will be able to communicate, except maybe by semaphore and/or smoke signal.
Of course, we'll all be too busy dealing with the Tribulation to really care about the Internet. Or anything else.
I suppose I could just repent at the last minute and become a Christian, thus assuring my assumption into Heaven. Honestly, I'd rather just go to Heaven, the gay bar in London. That is assuming there will still be planes flying to the U.K.
Oh, and if you should get to Heaven tomorrow night, please tell my grandmother that as much as I love her, the thought of listening to stories about Bingo and how my mother ruined her plans for my father becoming a priest for all eternity is not exactly my idea of Eternal Bliss.
By the way, when nothing special happens tomorrow and Harold Camping and his followers are busy making excuses (or being completely embarrassed by having quit their jobs and given up their homes), please join in me in continuing our lives in exactly the same way as we always have.
I will admit though, the anti-Christ does walk among us.
Does anyone do drag better than RuPaul? I mean, just at her. Gorgeous, no? And Ru is not only fabulous, but hilarious. From her appearances in The Brady Bunch movies to "RuPaul's Drag Race" on Logo, Ru never lets us forget that she's in on the joke. America's most visible Gender Illusionist, Ru is without doubt the most famous drag performer in the world.
My challenge this summer is to turn a straight actor into Ru. Or a 1967 White version of Ru.
My 'Leading Lady' and I went to our costumer's warehouse last night to find pieces for him to wear in the photos for the Prologue to Die Mommie Die!, which call for him to appear in various period shots as Peter Pan, Eliza Doolittle, Marie Antoinette and various incarnations of Angela Arden, the murderous vixen he's playing in the show. The two hours or so we spent there were both productive and hilarious, especially after he donned the onesie that gave him "breasts" which helped fill out the costumes he was trying on.
Of course, the broad-shouldered actor had size issues with many of the costumes we would have liked to use, but we managed to put together quite a few pieces that work for both the photo shoot and the actual production. And our brilliant costumer has assured me that she can alter existing pieces and/or build new pieces that will work for him. She's never let me down before, so I have full confidence in her abilities to turn this into this.
Tickets for the JTMF production of Charles Busch's comic thriller Die Mommie Die! are on sale now at www.kelseytheatre.net or by calling the Kelsey box office at 609-570-3333. 100% of our ticket sales go to The Open Arms Foundation, The James Tolin Memorial Scholarship and The Trevor Project. Proceeds from our Silent Auction - this year featuring items autographed by Cher; Elton John; Art Carney; Charles Shulz and Tim Burton - go towards the production costs of next year's benefit. If you can't attend, then please consider making a secure donation via PayPal at our website, www.jtmf.org.
Here are some excerpts from the original production starring author Charles Busch as Angela:
Die Mommie Die! runs for three performances only, June 24th, 25th & 26th at the Kelsey Theatre on the campus of Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, NJ. We hope to see you there. It's not only the funniest show you'll see this season, but an opportunity to make a difference and help people in need.
I was originally planning to save this post for Friday but since there's been so much buzz about it in the mainstream media, I thought I better get it in while there's still time for all y'all to read it.
89 year-old California Evangelist Harold Camping has determined that May 21st, 2011 is the 7000th Anniversary of the Great Flood; the date of the Rapture* and the beginning of the Apocalypse. And he's not alone. Camping has hundreds of followers, many of whom have given up their jobs and all their worldly possessions in order to prepare to be assumed into Heaven, prior to the Tribulation, which he claims will last until October 21st, 2011.
I'll be very amused to see what Mr. Camping has to say on May 22nd, when he and his followers (along with the rest of us), are all still here. "Oops!" seems hardly appropriate.
I may be an atheist, but I've read the Bible. And I know it says that no one can know when Judgment will be (not even Jesus, himself). So how does Camping know? He says he's done his research and that the acceptance of gays worldwide signals the End of Days. Really? It seems to me that the gradual and often painful realization that gay people are actually born gay, signals a new age of reason.
Here's the thing - There have always been gay people. There have always been fornicators and there have always religious loons who've been predicting the End of the World. Religious kooks have been predicting the End of the World for almost as long as religions have existed. Hell, Camping himself first predicted it in 1994. Of course, he now says his calculations were wrong and that he has since adjusted his math.
I can't wait to hear what he has to say on May 22nd, when he hasn't been assumed.
Until then, please enjoy these Rapture-related videos:
More (and more I'm sure), anon.
Prospero
*That's my beloved Beth Grant (of Sordid Lives and Donnie Darko) as the soon-to-be client in the "Six Feet Under" clip.
The trailer for Steven Spielberg's motion-capture version of the Belgian comic Tintin is out, and while I must admit that Peter Jackson's WETA studios seems to have overcome the creepy dead-eyes issue that has plagued Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture movies, I just can't seem to work up any enthusiasm for this movie.
As a kid, I knew Tintin existed because we had to read it in French class, but I couldn't really get into the series. I think I was put off my his weird pointy hair. Tintin was a young reporter, going off on adventures only Belgian kids (and Spielberg) could truly appreciate.
Tintin was joined by his fox terrier, Milou (Snowy) and a series of weird companions like Captain Haddock (sounds fishy to me)*; the hearing-impaired Professor Tournesol ("Sunflower" in French, but "Calculus" in the American versions) and opera singer Bianca Castafiore.
The first teaser trailer has hit the web, and it looks as though Spielberg may very well have the tone that creator Herge' intended, while infusing a bit of Indiana Jones style adventure, something missing from the rather talky comics I remember reading as a young teen. Take a look (via) and tell me what you think:
Interesting? Only time will tell.
More, anon.
Prospero
*I make no apologies for that terrible joke, BTW...
That's the amazing and hilarious playwright/actor Charles Busch as Angela Arden in Die Mommie Die!, the play I am currently directing for the James Tolin Memorial Fund's annual AIDS benefit, June 24th - 26th. Charles is a very handsome man who knows how to wield a makeup brush (and it helps that he has great bone structure).
Thankfully, I have been able to cast an equally handsome actor with great bone structure. David previously appeared as Steve in our production of The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and I am thrilled that he agreed to play the role. Still, cheekbones aside, David isn't quite the 'petite flower' that Mr. Busch is. 6' 1" tall, broad-shouldered with an athletic build and size 12 feet, costuming him is going to be a challenge, to say the least.
I've been Googling "Transvestite Supplies;" "Transvestite Clothing" and "Transvestite Shoes" with limited success. When I played Arnold in Torch Song Trilogy, our producer found a Trans Clothing store on EBay, where she was able to procure a pair of black patent pumps with 3" heels for me. I'm hoping she'll be able to do the same for him. I'm planning a trip to M*A*C counter at Macy's for cosmetics and our costumer is going to do her best to find clothes in her stock, but finding late-60's period pieces in his size is going to be a challenge, at best.
So I am turning to you, dear readers, for help. If you know of any Trans clothing suppliers in the Philadelphia/New York/New Jersey area, please let me know. I'll even give you a "Special Thanks" nod in our program. You'll be helping a great cause, too.
