Auntie & the Arts

The Neighborhood is billed as:

A space for all queer and transgender folks…We like mixed up spaces and so should you! Always femme, butch, gender varient, fairy, leather, & CD friendly

This place lives up to it’s billing and then some. The organizers, Gunner Scott of XGender productions see: http://www.Gendercrash.Com and dj d’hana of Cherub Productions, http://www.Myspace.Com/chubrubproductions have created a welcoming and high energy environment that is worth the trip to.

The vibe at The Neighborhood, which is held the second Saturday of the month at The Midway Cafe, located at 3496 Washington Street in Jamaica Plain is decidely good. I’m not sure there is a better way to describe it. Really good vibe. My co-conspirators and I met femme’s, butch’s, FtM’s, and straight folk just being themselves and having fun. Dj d’hana is an excellent DJ. She moved effortlessly from one music genre to the next mixing up hip hop, techno, 80’s and various other types of music in a style that kept the crowd on it’s feet and not bored. I remember standing with two other women, both femmes and an incredibly cute couple, and having just met and chattinng and hearing a smooth transition from a hip hop tune to The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven“. All our eyes met and simultaneoulsly the three of us yelled out, ‘WE LOVE THIS SONG” and we just started spontaneously dancing. That typifies The Neighborhood “experience” for me. Fully accepting, packed, good vibe. To top it off, Gunner is one of the coolest guys around and donates part of the procedes from The Neighborhood to a charity every month. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Go visit the neighborhood. Get their by 9PM or you’ll end waiting in line out front to get in.

For more details see: http://www.myspace.com/theneighborhoodjp

I’ve been reading a book called, “The Bitch in the House” for the past few months (yeah I’m slow) and I would highly recommend this book. The basic premise is as the title states: 26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage.

And it does exactly that.

It’s a no hold barred look at:

• the angst of being a woman and wanting to be liberated and yet feeling intense guilt that she’s not the star hostess she perceived her mother always was.

• the choices women make to be in love and to have children and in how they do that and negotiate that. This will surprise you.

• the anger women feel deep down at how they are seen and even how they see themselves at work vs at home and how that effects them.

It’s a very good book to get a sense for how some women feel today about some very basic life issues and life choices as well. There are some short comings and that’s the point about this book being about “some” women and not all. Virtually all of the writers are just that, professional writers. So we don’t have stories from women who live on the farm and grew up in that community and what they think of life and their choices. We don’t necessarily have the views of women in poverty either. I’m sure there are works in that area for sure, but this is not necessarily one of them.

Overall the book is very good. You’ll learn aspects of women’s lives you didn’t know and many of which you’ll likely to be able to relate to. This is especially true if your a transgender women. Many times it’s the outward expressions that get focused on due to safety and acceptance factors. Sometimes something as basic as getting a job is predicated on if you pass or if you don’t. And let’s face it, having a job and paycheck beat living on the street any day. But it’s our hearts that matter most and from that springs your true life. And people can see that. I can assure you that if you read and think on the stories and lessons from reading “The Bitch in the House” your heart will be changed too.

I love this movie, Under the Tuscan Sun (or Sotto il sole della Toscana in Italian) It is rich, gently textured, unpredictable, nurturing and satisfying. It is a movie with such memorable quotes such as:

• A fountain and a magnum of champagne will always set you right
• I am going to make love all over you!
• Regrets are a waste of time. They’re the past crippling you in the present.
• Any arbitrary turning along the way, and I would be elsewhere. I would be different.

This comedy and drama movie is about a woman named Frances (played by Diane Lane) who, divorced from her husband, becomes very depressed and goes to Tuscany Italy with a tour group. While she is there she impulsively buys an old villa with all her savings, and she has a wish. Her wish is that there will be a wedding at the villa and a family too. And it is the rich story and excellent acting that leads her to the fulfilling of those wishes.

The acting is well done. Diane Lane, as Frances, is excellent as the novelist turned general contractor as she works with a polish speaking contractors, in Italy, to bring the suddenly bought house to life. The story and scenes of that subplot will make any homeowner wince in empathy. But that’s not the only thing Frances is up to as romance, unexpected visits and further plots twists are weaved through the movie. The movie has a gentle but not slow pace. It’s carefully crafted and best enjoyed with wine.

There are many memorable scenes, among them:
* Francis grabbing the arm of a strange man to avoid some other Italian “admirers” from stalking her. Her choice in a stranger leads her in a path in life that she didn’t expect
* The collapse of the main wall in the house during the construction. It’s priceless.
* The incredible “luck” of Frances, now living in Italy, unable to speak Italian, who has hired Polish laborers, and she doesn’t speak Polish either.
* Katherine, her ex pat British friend, who poses naked for her artist friend 20 years her junior and then invites Frances up just to say hello.

Under the Tuscan Sun was nominated for a Golden Globe award and won the GLAAD Media Award. It stars Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, Raoul Bova and Lindsay Duncan.

I’ll end with the best quote from the movie, by Frances:

What are four walls, anyway? They are what they contain. The house protects the dreamer. Unthinkably good things can happen, even late in the game. It’s such a surprise.

Guy warning, it’s mostly a chic flick, so girls, get your friends together for this one and bring the wine, chocolate and tissues. The tears you’ll shed are not in saddness but for how your heart is touched by this wonderful movie.

Ar de ar mate and hoist the jolly roger your bound to set sail for fun with Dead Man’s Chest!

Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest is a really fun movie. I liked the original, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl and was hooked on Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), the Undead crew and the man who most embodies what a pirate is (in my opinion) Captain Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush). Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest, is no slouch either.

The movie begins with Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) being served a summons for their arrest in helping Captain Jack Sparrow in the first film. Through various means (that I shant reveal less the movie be spoiled) Will and Elizabeth escape to find Jack in order to clear both their names. And here is where things get interesting as both Will and Elizabeth are thrust into the midst of Captain Sparrows grave misfortune; he owes a blood debt to none other than Davey Jones, himself cursed and the Captain of the Flying Dutchman. Jack must figure out how to pay off this debt while Elizabeth and Wil try to figure out how to clear their own names. Sound straight forward enough? Well it might be except this is a pirate movie.

Ahhhh pirates. You can’t trust them, or can you? One double cross and surprise leads to the next as personal vendettas are intertwined with others. It seems you can’t trust anyone.

The movie starts a bit slow and picks up the pace gradually until the finish. Ahhh the finish, it will surprise you and is the best bridge to a third movie I’ve ever seen. Well worth seeing, mate!

(Photo courtesy of Venturout Photos, used under Creative Commons license)

  When I learned about Greek Mythology in school Homer’s “The Odyssey” was a part of what we studied.
I’ll admit parts were very interesting to read and some parts were not but when a movie entitled, “O’ Brother Where Art Thou” came on TV and looked strangely liked The Odyssey, I was glued to the TV.

The movie, released in 2000, starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Chris Thomas King and many others, is set in the 1930’s with three convicts on a chain gang escaping prison. George Clooney is the instigator and convinces his two connected partners to leave with him on the pretense that George had hid $1M from a robbery in a secret location. Well, when the trio break out they start on a eclectic adventure that finds them running into Muse’s, a club wielding bible salesman, a blues guitar star who has sold his soul to the devil, and running smack dab into the wrong side of the Klu Klux Klan. All this while being chased relentlessly by the police.

When my spouse and I first watched this, she turned to me and said, “this is weird, I’m going out with my friends” and off she went while I sat and enjoy the movie. She found it odd with a winding plot that, even though adventurous, was hard to follow. I found the adventures that the trio found themselves beset by during their quest humorous with surprising twists and turns. The soundtrack is fun too, with old time blues tunes appropriately set in.

O’Brother Where Art Though, (for more info on the movie click HERE) is worth the rental fee or if it shows up on cable definitely worth the time to watch it. George Clooney is very good in a different kind of role for him as con man then redeemed man in this modern Homeric class adventure.

I had never heard of Fiona Apple until I went for some makeup lessons at M-A-C Cosmetics. I learned alot about how to do my makeup, and the added bonus was learning about Fiona Apple and her new Album, Extraordinary Machines. It is a very good album and it has meaning for many kinds of people. Two songs in particular, talk of the uniqueness of people and how amazing they either are or are becoming.

In the title track, “Extraordinary Machine” Fiona sings:

If there was a better way to go then it would find me

I can’t help the road just rolls out behind me

Be kind to me, or treat me mean

I’ll make the most of it, I’m an extraordinary machine

It’s a great line from a very well written, sung and produced song. And how many of us (trans or not) couldn’t identify with those verses. Coming to grips and hopefully at peace with our own lives, we may indeed come to the conclusion that if there was a better way to go, it would find you.

In “Better Version of Me” Fiona has some equally interesting lines:

I am likely to miss the main event

If I stop to cry or complain again

So I will keep a deliberate pace

Let the damned breeze dry my face

I won’t give away some other yummy tidbits from that song, but I think you’ll agree, when you listen, that it’s not just catchy, but it will give you pause to think as well. Maybe in your life and mine we’ll realize that stopping to cry and complain isn’t going to do anything, but keeping a deliberate pace moving forward will. Overall the album is well produced, it’s a joy to listen to. It is also uncommon music. What I mean by that is that it’s not the same top-40 watered down pap that you hear on the radio. It’s far better. With much more variety and excellent musical skills being demonstrated. And that not clinically, but richly with deep feeling. It’s really a joy to listen to.

Go pick up “Extraordinary Machines”, it’s a very good album, that is not only meaningful, but fun as well. At the end, you too may come to the conclusion that you are an Extraordinary Machine.

You would never know it from looking at
her, but she had a prosthetic leg, had been through WWII, worked at a
spy for both the British and the U.S. and had received the highest
medals for distinguished service from Britain, France and the United
States for her work in WWII.  If it weren’t for her pivotal role, key
parts of the war against Germany in France would not have been won by
the Allies.

The book, "The Wolves at the Door:
The True Story of America’s Greatest Female Spy" penned by
Judith L. Pearson is a fabulous true story of Virgina Hall.  Born in
the United States, yet with an incredible passion for Europe,
particularly France, Virginia accomplished more in her lifetime than
most people even dream of.  Perhaps the best part of the story though
is not what she accomplished but the obstacles she had to get over in
order to accomplish them.  I won’t spoil the story for you, but those
obstacles were physical in terms of her body, and discrimination, for
being a woman.  In the end, her amazing tenacity and inventiveness
and sheer passion for her life’s mission - being a spy and helping to
defeat the German’s - allowed her to rise above and triumph.

The book is one of those little
treasures.  Well written and about a niche topic that is very
valuable to read.  I highly recommend it.   Grab some tea, curl up on
a couch, and read!

You can get the book at your fav book store or at Amazon by clicking on this link here

The Hustler is a film released in 1961 starring Piper Laurie, Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, and George C. Scott. It was tagged as an “Essential” film by the Turner Classic Movie network and let me tell you, it is. It is an outstanding film.

Filmed in black and white, the story covers the rise, fall and rise again of a small-time pool hustler. Paul Newman plays the Hustler, “Fast” Eddie Felson. Eddie learns some amazing life lessons that winning at all costs is not the worthwhile goal it appeared to be when ambition drove him - and others hustled Eddie himself. There are so many layers to this movie that no review can really do justice to it: Pool hustler sponsors hustling the gifted pool players for whom they depend on for existence; would be lovers hustling each other to get what they need to survive; super star pool hustlers hustling each other not for money but to determine who is best. There are some very interesting plot turns in the movie as well that are not predictable. These twists make the movie real, keeping it out of the formulaic range and into the realm of a true classic.

All the actors do an outstanding job and their characters grow as the movie progresses. This drama is short on special effects but long on excellent acting. Jackie Gleason has only a few lines but his presence in the film has a big impact. Piper Laurie is tremendous in her role as an alcoholic who finds redemption, life and love only to have her future hustled from her. Paul Newman starts as a man focused on winning yet changes to a man who knows what the true cost of winning at all costs brings He begins as a man without a stitch of character and finishes knowing what character really is.

Snuggle on the couch with hot chocolate and a friend and you’ll find The Hustler a very enjoyable watch.

   I make no bones about the fact I love older movies. I have nothing against newer ones, I just like to find the fun niches in the older ones. The buried treasure if you will

When you have sick children, one of the nicest things you can do for them is just be with them. This is no small feat at times! The to do list is on your mind, that project needs to get done…

Well, I got a chance this weekend to do both of the above nice things, revisit an old movie and make sure one my sick children felt better while watching Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”, based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen (see link here). If you haven’t seen this one in a while you should! If you’ve never seen it you really have to. The animation is the older two dimensional approach that Disney built it’s reputation on and it’s done very well. However, what sets the story apart is the story line. It’s amazing how good it is - even today.

Some of my favorite parts are:

• The heroine, Ariel’s, spunky character and her deep need to be someone decidedly different from who she is currently
• Sebastian, the crab, as sidekick and babysitter
• The theme of sacrifice for the one you love
• The great music!!
• The fact it’s just plain fun and romantic

So grab that cocoa, blanket and the one you snug with and have a look, you’ll be happy you did

I’ve not seen "Transamerica" yet, but I will and will post a review at that point.   But, I didn’t want this movie to get buried behind under the deluge of equally outstanding movies soon to hit the movie screens.  So I thought I’d just highlight it here.

TRANSAMERICA has won numerous festival prizes, including awards for best film at the Berlin Film, San Francisco’s Frameline festival and the Woodstock Film Festival, and the award for Best  Screenplay at France’s 2005 Deauville Festival of American Film.

It’s not so much a movie about being transexual, it’s really about being a person, and about life; being trans just happens to be one little facet of the main character, that’s all.

Check out the reviews at this link –> here