Tarhearted.

BOYFRIEND MATERIAL.

So.

I've secretly been writing a web series. Why is it a secret? I guess it feels less legitimate than theater, even though it'll probably be seen by many, many more people. Also, it's new for me and people I admire like Michael Cyril Creighton and Eliot Glazer are already doing it so well. (When It Gets Betterish premiered I'd already written three episodes of my show and almost gave up, it's so good.) That said, just because there are three good gay web series's out there, that isn't a reason for me not to do something, is it? I mean, there are at least ten good plays happening right now, right? (Tarhearted homeboy Robert Askins' Hand to God is coming back in February for eight more weeks, btw!)

The truth is that sometimes you have to do something different to stay sane. I have lots of amazing theater projects coming down the line (did you see that MilkMilkLemonade is #1? Sorry, Mike Daisey.) Plus TV projects and a graphic novel. The thing is, I need a project I can be the boss of. I'm a very collaborative writer, and not at all sensitive about taking notes, but when you're not self-producing theater, when you have a book deal, when you're working with producers on TV pilots... all you do is take notes, and it can start to wear on you (me.)

So.

If I don't chicken out, Boyfriend Material will be a six episode black comedy that follows a broke faggot named Curry Carmichael around Brooklyn over the course of one day as he is dumped for not being "straight acting" enough, tries to score a trendy new drug called Super Coke, gives a Hasid a hand job, prevents a lesbian suicide, and attends the premiere of a performance art piece with a transgender mugger.

I think it's different enough from the three gay web series I like to warrant being made. Boyfriend Material will be in black & white and filmed in Broolyn's finest crack dens, alleys and abandoned buildings.  It's a nod to a New York City that was grittier and presumably more fun, and a simultaneous satire/celebration of underground filmmakers like Kenneth Anger, Andy Warhol and the earliest John Waters.

At least, that's my hope for it. Maybe I'll still chicken out. If not, look for an incessant and aggressive fund raising campaign in the next month. On second thought, you won't need to. I'll find you.

In the mean time, please enjoy these great web series.

 

Jack in a Box

Two Jasperjohns

It Gets Betterish

MY FAVORITE THINGS. PART 784.

Someone needs to remind me every six months or so how amazing Regretsy is. "Where DIY meets WTF!"

MY MOM, THE STYLE ICON.

I'm so honored! Piper- curator of the awesome blog My Mom, The Style Icon- was kind enough to feature me and my stylish mom, Theresa.

Check it out!

Check out the rest of the blog too. I'm hard pressed to think of a site more heart warming.

TALKIN' 'BOUT MY GENERATION.*

This positive review for I'll Be Damned makes me think it would be a show I'd like. But what's with the critic's swipe at Millennials?

"Though this Jaradoa Theater production is set in the '80s, perhaps to justify barfy costumes, Louis has the bad qualities of Millennials, not Gen-Xers—he's entitled, virginal, and coddled by his helicopter mom..."

I've seen critics doing this a lot lately on the interwebs and it kind of bugs me. I mean, I guess it makes sense. Everybody hates people younger than them. I know I do! I'm the oldest possible age to be considered a Millennial. And it's not like I disagree with that assessment of my generation, either. It's just that:

1. It reeks of tacky jealousy and old fogey-ism. "Those crazy kids with their sexting and their chatroulettes!"
2. It dismisses an entire generation of people and, admit it or don't, there's much about Millennials that's admirable too.

Why, that's like dismissing baby boomers for being selfish, sell-out hypocrites (they are) while ignoring all the amazing things they accomplished (which they did.) That's like calling Gen X lazy and shiftless (they are) but ignoring... um... irony? Grunge? It's kind of unfair, is all.

*This is the title of a song from a long time ago or something.

AN ADDENDUM.

I'm also grateful for the amazing Married to the Sea.

SAUCY.

Over on Parabsis there is a handy little tool that tells you who has recently commented so that you can click on a particular entry and read it. Naturally, my curiosity was peaked when I saw the following...

Recent Comments: Penis Stretching on an old post about cooking.

Naturally, I clicked through.

"That sauce is delicious!! Have you others recipes?" Clearly, Penis Stretching is a tiny British orphan a la Oliver! I clicked on Penis Stretching. It was awesome.

I know what somebody's getting for Hanukkah!

P.S. I've been spending too much time on that blog.

QUEER HUMOUR

The Boyfriend sent me this video, which is pretty much the most hilarious thing I've seen this week. (WARNING: super not safe for work.)

Sometimes I feel like it's wrong to laugh at things like this. My writing too, contains dialogue and themes that some would find unbelievably offensive. I suppose I'm too inside of it, because I'm always sincerely shocked- SHOCKED- that anybody would find my sense of humor offensive.

I was catching a train with a heterosexual and super liberal friend once and we were discussing different neighborhoods in the city when i said I wouldn't go to a certain neighborhood for fear of being "Matthew Shepherd-ed." Okay, it's not guffaw funny, but I don't think it's hideously offensive either. I was making light of a very real and legitimate fear I felt. My immediate thought was "oops, I've offended my friend," but then that gave way to something else. "Wait a minute, " I thought, "I'm the one who's fearful. I'm the one without my civil rights here." And then I thought, "Fuck it. I can say whatever I feel like saying."

As another example, I was with a group of friends discussing what their nicknames were in high school. When it got to me, without missing a beat, I responded "faggot". Nobody laughed. I thought it was funny.

I guess my question is this: is offensive humour a part of queer culture? Do queer people become funny as a defense mechanism or a survival tactic? Is the collective queer threshold for dark comedy wider because of a lifetime full of abuses? If you consider the popularity of John Waters, Margaret Cho, Absolutely Fabulous, Charles Busch, and Sarah Silverman, I would say that it is. Because if it isn't, well... then I'm just an asshole.

Hopefully though I'm just carrying on a tradition.

CHECKING IN.

Only have time to say a quick "hey".

Thanks, Katie!

MISS CALIFORNIA, UM, THINKS GAYS ARE UNEQUAL. NO OFFENSE!

Social conservatives (like hog fart Maggie Gallagher) are practically chewing at the bit to make Miss California the super tanned leather face of their anti-marriage equality movement. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton (a judge at the pageant) posed the question: "Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”

Constitutional scholar Carrie Prejean responded: ”Well, I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. Um, we live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what? In my country and in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think that it should be, between a man and a woman. Thank you.”

Ugh.

What Prejean so blithely ignores is the fact that we actually CANNOT choose same sex marriage in America. That's the whole problem, see, that mental midgets like herself, emboldened by their antiquated religious dogma, have seen fit to marginalize an entire group of people into second class citizenship. No offense!

Why do we continue to ask these girls anything at all? It's so depressing.

TEA BAGGING REPUBLICANS.

Has anybody been reading about the Republicans holding national Tea Bag parties on tax day? I got invited to this event in Seattle (I live in Brooklyn) via Facebook and I'm ashamed to admit I let my passion overtake me and immediately posted on the event's wall that everybody attending was retarded and how it isn't necessarily "socialism" to want a more equitable tax distribution, better infrastructure, and to no longer be the only first world country without any healthcare to speak of. Needless to say, they were not impressed. I was immediately met with comments stating I was confused about the meanings of Capitalism and Socialism (I'm not) and pleas to study my Russian History (I have).

It seems like they're planning to gather in cities and towns all across the country and wave tea bags at each other in protest of... um... I'm not sure what exactly. Presumably they're protesting the stimulus package, but that's already passed. And I guess they're against "socialism"? It seems ironic to me to protest Socialism at nationally funded parks and public areas then. Are they just protesting Obama? Like, the man himself? I'm not sure. Anyway, nice Boston Tea Party reference!

I do enjoy that none of the fine fiscal conservatives seem to be aware of the popular definition of tea bagging, which always makes me think of Martha Plimpton as the fag hag bar tendress in Pecker.

"No teabagging!" 

Here is a visual image for you to live with: