SGL Café

Milk epiphanies ...

I finally, at long last, got to see Sean Penn and James Franco in Milk last night. These are some of the things that became clear to me, feel free to add to this brief list: 1. How a celebrity, especially a black one, could remain in the closet after seeing Milk is beyond me. All the usual arguments echo hollow, and weak. Pick an argument, shout it out loud, and see how feeble it sounds when verbalized. I realize now that my stance for full marriage equality as opposed to the 2nd class status of Civil Unions has been right all along. 2. I'm a Know-It-All who doesn't know as much as he thinks. Yeah. I've always said that I know all their is to know about Harvey Milk and that time in our queer nation but I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm ashamed I waited this long to see this amazing film, one made at a time when its needed the most, a time that actually mirrors Milks fight for our most basic rights. Thirty years later, Anita Bryant's holier-than-thou contingent is just as determined that we return to the closets of our past -- and like Anita they STILL, ironically, love us (but now, throwing shoes is even funnier). 3. The Rainbow Flag sprang from Harvey and this movement. A know-it-all like myself should have uh, known, yet I was blissfully ignorant. Like many modern day homos, I didn't realize we had our own gay Betsy Ross (Gilbert Baker) stitching the very first one 'cause we're a nation and need a flag. Now that flag drapes the world. Almost breaks my heart that I didn't know how that came about. 4. I'm in love with James Franco. Well, more in love than I already was. That's really no epiphany. My heart has had a hard-on for Franco since he played James Dean with amazing accuracy. Now, I'm all his. Just say the word Franco, and I'm so there. Here he is as Dean filming Giant.

So many Ghosts in so many Closets...

Every once in a while I stumble across something silly that has much deeper meaning. That's what this clip from The Jaime Jackson Show says to me - silly, but deep. I've been following Jaime's antics for a minute now. This one is less funny than usual, but more interesting. After viewing, tell us who do you think has a ghost in his or her closet. Well, without further ado, here's Jaime ....

Madea Mollywops the Jonas Brothers

As the wildly famous for some crazy reason [possibly the way they look in tight pants] Jonas Brothers' much anticipated 3-D tween flick bombed its opening weekend, Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail wins box-office gold for the second week in a row. And spawns some interesting comments over at Entertainment Weekly: MDK ~ Does this mean that there's going to be another Madea movie?? Please tell me the answer is NO. Jeff W. ~ What is the matter with people? How can they spend money on this horrible, horrible movie. It's so depressing that this makes money instead of things like Revolutionary Road, The Reader, and Gran Tarino. The masses are asses. Kristen ~ This doesn't really surprise me- I went to see Madea Goes to Jail in a pretty crowded theater yesterday afternoon. It was just the kind of film I needed- silly and funny, and I didn't have to think very hard to enjoy it. I hope there will be more Tyler Perry movies- I've liked all of them. Jon ~ Jeff said: "What is the matter with people? How can they spend money on this horrible, horrible movie. It's so depressing that this makes money instead of things like Revolutionary Road, The Reader, and Gran Tarino [sic]. The masses are asses." ...Just because you don't understand or like something doesn't mean other people feel the same way as you. Revolutionary Road was an excellent movie, but comparing it to a Madea movie is just ridiculous. There is a completely different dynamic with the tone and pace of both movies. Also, spare me the drivel about "The Reader" or "Gran Torino". Torino has done VERY well at the box office. The Reader, a movie about a woman molesting a young boy/man, is not something I would want to see. Tyler Perry has targeted audiences that respond to his values and characters, and the viewers are responding. GET OVER IT. Maybe you're the "ass" for assuming everything?

Knick's Eddy Curry accused of sexually harassing driver

from The NY POST I so wanted to believe this story. It's got a potential DL black athlete -- 6' 11 baller of a man (once curiously described as 'soft') -- trying to stick his meat into his able but apparently unwilling driver turned houseboy. Yeah, its a story right up my alley. But then a got a load of the accuser David Kuchinsky ->, and, well ... he doesn't make me wanna whip it out and say "suck it, bitch!" Curry can get any cum receptical he wants, and he picks this guy? Hmmm .... It could still be true. After all, he's only suing for 98 grand. That's monopoly money to Eddy Curry's 9.4 mil salary this year. That's a lot of money. Maybe all that money makes you wanna stick your dick in any ol' mouth. Maybe. But I seriously fcukin' doubt it. Now if I was Curry and the driver/houseboy accusing me looked like, say, this Asian kat below -- you could bet your ass I'm guilty. Ironically, Wandering Caravan just said something about objectifying Asian men. Sorry dude, I don't see it as objectifying or as a fetish. Let's just call it adoring intensely, and I adore ALL beautiful men equally and unashamedly. And this guy, c'mon, he's begging to be sexually harassed. And I'm just the man to do it. ~~

Was Ne-Yo involved in a kinda, sorta, 'Protecting his man' bashing?

I heard Wendy Williams breaking this story down the other day about the Xmas Eve shopping in the Louis Vuitton store smack down in NYC. I'm not a major hip-hop head, so the only Jim Jones I know (or care about in an infamous kinda way) is the one of "the Koolaid" fame and Jonestown. But Ne-Yo's involvement in this makes me care - a little. And if statements attributed to one "rap industry veteran" -- “Most of us know how Ne-Yo rolls but we don’t trip cause he’s good people and he makes hits. The problem is Jones threatened to take things public a while ago after some ‘he-say, she-say’ bullshit” -- are true, then it makes my ears perk up.

Although there is so much smoke around this issue (his sexuality), I'm not surprised when I see flames. But if it's true that Jim Jones said, “don’t put yo’ dick sucking hands on me nigga” to Ne-Yo and commenced with the violence, then the truth certainly needs to come out.

However, if people don't take the opportunity to live authentically and to stand up to the homo-hatred at the root of so much violence that befalls people -- then I have no sympathy for him or anyone else who opts to stay hidden in plain sight. Zero. ~~

"Family" -- official trailer of new lesbian dramedy

Okay, this looks like a must see!

"Family" is the dramedy feature film centering on the lives of a group of closeted lesbian friends who make a pact to come out together within 30 days. written and directed by Faith Trimel it stars, Cherese, Leslie Gilliam, Fadhia Carmelle Marcelin, Mahogany Ratcliffe, Nikki Klecha, Mykee Selkin, Tarina Vershawn, Blanca Avalos

Post Prop 8: A call for UNITY & black gay activism

In response to this Washington Post column where the author laments about responding to a bus driver who shouted "sodomites" in reference to the Prop 8 debacle, I responded that in light of the cross country protests we were truly in the No More Mr. Nice Gay era, and that it's especially important for black gays. A friend added ... I used to think that the most politically active black gays were in D.C....they got stuff done, at least, on the surface, IMHO. I don't know if that is still the case...but black gays in Houston, ain't about nothing. Are they elsewhere? Where is the unity? Where is the conviction? I'm so over about "booty calls" and getting a nut...that is not going to advance gay rights or empower us. Aaron Yes. There was a time when 'activist' causes meant nothing to me; all I cared about was where da party at and there better be some phine boys when I got there. But in this age of internet hook-ups and the general loss of the old fashioned cruising and the delicate pick up dance, people leap-frog all that and just post a picture of their dick/ass online like an attractive lure and just reel in all takers. Don't get me wrong, that 'game' is interesting as well ... for a while. But easy sex is like crack, and bad easy sex is like finding out your crack is a soap chip. That's exactly what out of control cyber hook ups lead to, lots and lots of bad sex, which only leaves you emptier, and in need of more. I went through that cycle. From the time I discovered cyber hook up sites to the time I looked in the mirror and saw the proverbial clue-less crackhead staring back took about 6 months and two embarassing doctor visits. Not that black gay men are any more addicted to sex than anyone else, we are however hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic. I can't help but to make a connection. I don't know if I where still 19 and the hottest muthafuka in the room if I would even be writing this. Probably not. I have no idea what this ramble means as far as the future of OUR activism. Maybe the youth will always not give a shit. *sigh* But that just means the older generation has to step to the plate a little stronger, knowing the foibles of youth 'cause we've been there done that. Yeah, fucking is fun, but one day we're gonna be OLD ... then VERY OLD ... and we'd better damn well have some programs and institutions in place to take care of our old gay asses. The younger generation, for the most part, can't see that far ahead yet. I certainly can. In the Post Obama, post Prop 8 era, it's time to seriously step up our game. Because, and to paraphrase Obama, there is not a black gay community and a white gay community, there's just one gay community. And we all sink or swim together. ~~

On the Downlow ~~ a raw slice of black gay life

Facing homophobia in their community and pressure from friends and family, four DL men reveal in intimate detail what it means to lead a double life as a means of survival. On the Downlow - Part 1 (of 6)

[picture is my own, and not related to this LOGO story] Ray, Antonio, Kerwin and George all have some things in common: they're black, intimately acquainted with life in the 'hood, and they also understand the sexual pull that one man can feel toward another -- and the need to keep that desire hidden (or down low) in the hood. LOGO network tackles the subject with surprising agility, delivering an almost heartwrenching sense of hopelessness while heralding the existence of same gender love between black males (which many paint as elusive). In the case of Ray, who although he admits to finding a family like no other in the gay community, doesn't seem to connect on a higher level with the men or the women in his life. He hates when gay men admit to having STD's or HIV and think that's why gay men are perceived as nasty and why he goes back to women. He has issues dealing with either sex however, and I'd venture the difficulty is mutual. In the end he admits he'll never tell his girl about his dealings with men (as if she'll never see his LOGO interview) and claims to love her -- but one must wonder how much love there is for someone you continually lie to. At only 18 Ray, in my estimation, is on a Bullett Train -- Destination: Nowhere. ETA: Yesterday. But this is just a piece of one story. Other stories show hope, love, and also more hopelessness. I understood because I understand that pain of growing up being attracted to your boys and having to suppress it, or worse, having to act out to allay any vague notions of gayness. All and all, SGL Café gives LOGO a hat's off kudos for On the DownLow -- a thin but raw slice of black gay life; straight up, no chaser!

... just a little Hollywood GAY RAPE gossip

Yeah, no biggie. Or, according to this blog's source, MAYBE it is a biggie, but it was more like a rough sex play thing. Okay. Of course, this gossip has been around for ages and the sources are always specious. Is it just the price of fame ... or is it just freakin' true? Not that it matters, we all love Will Smith, but 99.9999% of us will never have the opportunity to be tossed about the bed by Hancock. *sigh* Yes. These little truisms make me quite sad.

Cover: Bill Duke's film ~~ SGL cafe review

Check out Jasmyne Cannick's take on this new controversial flick here and here, which may or may not add fuel to the down low brotha fire without addressing for one second the underlying bullshit that causes it. Or ... maybe not. Finally seen it. My SGL Cafe NetFlix review: Where to start with this movie? I thought it would be a nefarious take on the evil DL brother, and from the ominous opening credits (reminescent of a funeral dirge), I was far from disappointed. But when I heard LEON was in it I thought 'well, at least we get beefcafe'. Disappointed there, too. However, I gave the movie 3 stars because of some sterling performances in a pretty ho-hum script --- Vivica is always a treat, Aunjanue was on point, Leon still looked good (and I at least give him props for playing this role), and of course, Roger Guenveur Smith is always the scene stealer (if only there was a better script). Overall: way too much Jesus, not enough steamy man love (there was an opportunity for a killer shower scene that went wasted); lead actor husband sucked and I pray never to see him again; Mya made little cameos like Hitchcock (you'd think she directed it); and lastly, the little diddy about DL guys picking each other up with the line 'You got something in your eye. You want me to blow it out for ya?' was so hilarious it bordered on camp. If this ever happened to me in a mens room, I'd laugh my a$$ off (unless it was LEON, of course.)