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I've mentioned before about the role playing games mockumentary Tom and I made, and we've finally gotten something linkable. Thanks to Katie, we have a splash page up for the film here. We're also up on MySpace as well here. If you are on MySpace, please feel free to befriend our little film there. Check out both pages for updates about the film, since we are getting so close to actually finishing it. (Fingers crossed...)
I've been away for a while and I do apologize for that. It's been pretty busy around here, and it's best to present them in an alliterative form. Let's follow the letter F:
*Film*. I shot my day on the horror movie this past Friday. While my death scene was taken away from me, it was pointed out by some friends that this does open up my role for the sequel. We'll see. My remaining one long scene involved me prepping two dead bodies, both played by two of the main actors in the film. As they laid on cold stainless steel gurneys, I had to use a rigged fake scalpel to cut into them that had blood coming out. This being a low-budget film, the rigging of the fake blood didn't quite work most of the time and indeed came apart during a lot of takes. But we did manage to make it work.
*Finances*. I started back to work at Urban Basic Cable Competition Show on Monday. It's almost like I'd never left -- most of the gang of co-workers are back, with the addition of Miss Katie to the mix. The show is what it is, and that's plenty okay in my book. It's a good solid paycheck and a 40 hour work week, which is rather rare in reality tv.
*Fa***t*. Even though other people have chimed in about the Isiah Washington/T.R. Knight brouhaha, I thought I'd weigh in as well. Frankly, the word Isiah Washington used is offensive -- period, end of story. There is no other way around it. It's up there with the N-word and the C-word (rhymes with hunt), as far as I'm concerned. This whole thing is totally reminiscent of Mel Gibson's and Michael Richards' outbursts as well. We all think some horrible, nasty thoughts in our life. Everyone at one point or another has had a racist or misogynist or homophobic thought cross their brains. It's another thing to actually say it. Being gay is not a choice; being a homophobe and using homophobic terminology is. It comes down to a phrase Tom has used many times: if you own it, you can use it. This means that if it's a bunch of gay men who are using it, that's okay, 'cause it's theirs. Same thing about the N-word and African-Americans. It's about context, like I said previously about the use of the word f****t in the play that I bailed on.
The context that Isiah Washington used the other F-Word was out of malice the first time around and self-interest in the second. What prompted him to use the word the second time around was a simple question asked by E!Online's Ted Casablanca: Aren't you guys happy to move on from the choking incident earlier (meaning the first time Isiah Washington called T.R. Knight a f****t)? A simple answer to that question is "Yes, we are." It was a yes-or-no question. And yet, Isiah Washington decided to try to deny the incident ever happened after he had already confessed to saying it.
The outrage that has come out of all this has made Isiah Washington apologize again and, apparently, go into treatment. Both Michael Richards and Mel Gibson have also sought treatment as well, with the latter going to rehab for alcoholism. While I'm all for forgiveness, this still makes me weary of... well, all of them. It is an open secret that there are a lot of gays, Jews and African-Americans in the entertainment industry, so to have all of this vitriol come out lately is a bit dumbfounding to me. If you really don't like these specific sets of society, then why work in this industry in the first place? That would be like me saying "I hate Christians" and then go work in Nashville. Or for TBN. Or for NASCAR. Makes no sense to me whatever. (And, as a side-note, I obviously do not hate Christians.)
As all of the outrage over Isiah Washington's comments has been indignant responses around L.A., this town has come to also celebrate a film where the use of this word (and others similar to it) is being applauded and celebrated. I watched The Departed on Tuesday night, and there is the word again -- along with "cocksucker", "fag" and other homophobic terms. So why is Isiah Washington bearing the brunt of this righteous indignation and nothing has been said about The Departed? I honestly don't know. The movie deals with mobsters, gangsters and blue-collar cops, so the eventual arguments are 'Well, that's how people talk in this setting'. Really? I know a bunch of blue-collar folks who don't use homophobic terms and find them insulting. To me, it makes the characters who say these terms as assholes and therefore are completely unsympathetic. Think about it: if you were watching a 2 hour 45 minute film about mobsters and cops and all of the characters were dropping anti-Semitic or racist comments very often, you wouldn't like them either. So why sit through a whole movie of it? Even the protagonist in the movie, the one character you actually like says "faggot" when taunting his main rival at the end of the film. Why is this okay? Why?
Unfortunately, I can't say this isn't the first time I've sat through a Martin Scorcese movie where I've had this feeling. At least with Taxi Driver (which in my opinion is still his best work), Travis Bickle's homophobic comments are kept to the barest of minimums. There are two very nelly queens in Mean Streets that get thrown out of cab by Robert DeNiro that's done for comedic effect. But Raging Bull? HATE. I watched this in my Film History class in college and almost walked out because the homophobic comments were so plentiful. Sure, it's a technically well-made film. Yes, the acting is spectactular. But after sitting through lines like "You punch like you take it up the ass", I just wanted the damn thing over. In Vito Russo's book The Celluloid Closet, he recounts a tale of a gay actor in After Hours who refused Scorcese's direction to make the character a flamey stereotype. Instead, the character comes off as more three-dimensional and lonely, which gives the scene between him and lead Griffith Dunne more poignancy.
Scorcese's rather homophobic track record can be explained away (partially) due to the times. Mean Streets was in the early 70's, and After Hours was mid-80's. Raging Bull was a period piece back at a time where being gay out in the open was almost a death sentence (and in some parts of the world it still is). But The Departed is a 2006 film set in the present. In this day and age, frankly, Scorcese, his screenwriter and producers should seriously know better. Get with the times, people.
I just hope that out of all of this people will use the term (and those similar) less. It's not being politically correct: it's correct, period.
Back from Illinois and seeing the family and suffering through cold and snow, I come back to California to suffer through cold and snow. Just... odd.
The shoot on the horror film went well -- my death scene was taken away from me, due to a glitch in the logic of script. It makes more sense for the story for another character to die instead of me. While I'm a bit bummed, the rest of the shoot was a blast. Professional people, great crew, good time all around.
We're getting closer to finishing the mockumentary. We have a great composer working with us and I'm very psyched wth his progress.
And, topping all of this off, Hillary has thrown her hat into the ring. Between her and Obama and Richardson and Edwards and McCain and Brownback (crazy!) and Guiliani, this is going to be one of the most exciting US presidential races in a long, long time. For the first time since... jeez, the 30's?... there is no incumbent running. I'm really, really psyched about this. A bit scared as well, but mostly excited. Right now, between Hillary, Obama and Edwards, I'm... well, evenly split. I'm going to have to do more research before I swing my support behind one or the other. And besides, the election isn't for another 22 months. A lot can happen in that time period.
Tom and I are getting ready for a whirlwind trip to Illinois to visit family and friends for the (belated) holidays. I've spent the day packing, throwing out garbage, and having a training session at the gym. We're splitting our time rather evenly between Chicago and Peoria. We have dinner plans with family or friends for the entire Chicago leg of the trip while the Peoria end involves family and a christening of Tom's newest grandnephew. Tom is going to be one of the Godfathers, which is nice and flattering. We fly back Wednesday night next week, and then I shoot my day on the horror movie. Then, three days later, I'm back on Season 3 of Urban Basic Cable Competition Show.
Beyond all that, things are same old, same old. I'm back in acting class again, which is awesome. Connor, my personal trainer, is kicking my butt... only because my butt is rather easy to kick. I've never been terribly athletic. When I was younger, I coasted for a long time on my rather rapid metabolism to maintain my somewhat skinny frame. After crossing the 30 year mark, that has slowed down, unfortunately. To get myself back in gear, I'm working out 4 days a week (2 with Connor) and trying to adhere to the recommended diet. My legs and chest are super sore, which is good. And a bit... ouchy. But good ouchy, as my meager muscles are actually being used for once.
I'll try to check in from Illinois at least once. We'll see...
A belated Happy New Year, one and all. Tom and I are in the midst of going through all of our old paperwork, shredding and throwing out anything now over 7 years old and pricing out storage lockers for some of our stuff. I literally tossed 6 bags of shredded documents into the recycling bins over the past 2 days -- I was starting to feel like Fawn Hall. (Incidentally, when I Googled "Fawn Hall", one of the first images that came up was Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine from ST:Voyager. That's just... odd.)
Tom and I are also getting ready for a trip back home to visit our families in Illinois. A change of scenery will be nice, even though it'll probably be flippin' cold once we touch down at O'Hare. Both there and back we're transferring flights in Denver, so I'm a tad... anxious about that. I dunno, we'll see.
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