The Republic of T.

It's official. We're going to see Dreamgirls on the 26th. The hubby just called to say he'd purchased the tickets online. And to top it off, we're seeing it at the Uptown, which has one of the largest screens in D.C. The only question is, do we sit in the balcony for a bird's eye view, or 5th row center so that the screen fills up the entire field of vision? 

I didn’t expect to be writing about Dreamgirls again so soon after my earlier post, despite the fact that I went out and got the deluxe edition of the soundtrack. And while the soundtrack is quite good (this isn’t a review, but I may write one later) it brought to mind something I surprised I didn’t think of when I posted earlier. Again, clearly the producers of this movie know they have at least one audience they can count onto see it even if no one else does: Gays. After all, it’s got Broadway cred, fabulous costumes, a flotilla of divas, a basis in the life story of a prototypical diva, and a show-stopping anthem that has kept drag queens in business for a quarter century. I mean, the deluxe soundtrack includes a dance mix of Jennifer Hudson’s “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” Okay?

But as Keith points out, Dreamgirls isn’t only the biggest gay film event since Evita. It’s also an important black film event, perhaps the most important since The Color Purple. (When was the last time you saw so many black actors in a movie this big? And a dramatic film?) And listening to the soundtrack (as I have, at least half a dozen times since yesterday), particularly to Hudson’s and Knowles’ gospel-influenced vocals as well as the call and response employed in so many of the other songs, as it was in the Motown music on which the show and movie are based, makes it tricky to promote a movie like Dreamgirls.

Not just because it has two different, though overlapping audiences, but because there’s some members of one audience are likely to bear some antipathy towards members of the other audience. And in the course of promoting the movie to those audiences, some young singer/actresses who honed their vocal chops in black churches will find themselves walking a fine line and sometimes stumbling over it.

Case in point, two different interviews given by two of the principal actresses in the film; Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce Knowles.

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Whenever we can, the hubby and I go on a date together. Usually it’s a day that both of us have off from work, or take off from work, but when daycare is open. We head into the District, window shop, have lunch, see a movie, and maybe have an early supper before going to pick up Parker and head home. Last night we were talking about having just such a date over the holiday, when the hubby mentioned the possibility of seeing a movie.

Now, since becoming parents we don’t see nearly as many movies as we used to. At least I know I don’t see as many movies as I used to. There was a time when I’d see one ever other weekend. And when the Oscars rolled around, I’d have seen most if not all of the nominated performances and films. (Even won a few Oscar pools, because there’s some truth in the joke that the Oscars is essentially the gay equivalent of the Super Bowl.) Now, the movies we see have to be carefully chosen, lest we pour the energy and time required to organize a date into seeing a dud. And usually we discuss which movie to see.

Not this time. I told him that if I see any movie over the holidays, it’s going to be Dreamgirls.

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I gotta admit, even though I'm a gay man, I think that Beyonce and Eva Longoria as an on screen lesbian couple is kinda hot. Or it would have been. Longoria has squashed that rumor. Maybe her agent thinks it wouldn't help her image. And as for Beyonce, I'm not sure it would sit well with her black fan base, given the strength of black homophobia. 

This is beautiful. And just in time for NaNoWriMo. Batshit Crazy Katherine Harris is writing a book.

Katherine Harris, who is trying to become a U.S. senator, says she is writing a tell-all about the many people who have wronged her. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to: the Republican leaders who didn’t want her to run, the press that has covered her troubled campaign, and the many staffers who have quit her employ, whom she accuses of colluding with her opponent.

She is vague about what, precisely, makes her a victim, but she says she has it all documented.

“I’ve been writing it all year,” she says in that kittenish voice. She often smiles and cocks her head as if she’s letting you in on a secret. “It’s going to be a great book.”

OK, I’m sure she thinks she’s writing a non-fiction work, so it’s not technically fodder for National Novel Writing Month. But c’mon. When someone as delusional as Katherine Harris writes about reality from her point of view, how can it be anything but fiction.

And I’ll say this right now. Whatever she writes, if it ever sees the light of day, there’d better be a movie version. Otherwise there’s just no justice in the world. And if there is a movie version, I have just one casting recommendation for the role of Crazy Katherine.

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I haven’t blogged about this yet, but looks like someone had made a movie about the people I’ve been reading and writing about lately. And, it’s something to see.

And if seeing kids this your declare themselves in training to be “the army of God” and “the key generation to Jesus coming back” doesn’t worry you a little (and it didn’t help that at the moment I’m reading The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount, about folks who want to help armageddon along by rebuilding the Third Temple) consider seeing Jesus Camp as a part of a double feature.

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Good grief. I finally got my hands on a copy of The Passion of the Christ. (Without having to put any money in Mel Gibson’s pocket. It’s amazing what you can find on trade sites like Zunafish. Maybe I’ll peruse the Left Behind series the same way.) Now I find out the movie should come with a warning label: “May cause you to strangle your loved ones”

A HUSBAND almost throttled his wife during a heated theological argument triggered by a controversial Mel Gibson film, a court heard.

Michael Watson loosened his grip on the throat of his wife, Patricia, only when she appealed to his faith by gasping: “Do not touch God’s anointed.”

The court was told that the couple, both devout Christians, celebrated his birthday with dinner and a bottle of wine before sitting down to watch The Passion of the Christ.

Mrs Watson left the room, and her 44-year-old husband became so upset by the graphic depiction of the Crucifixion that he pulled the leads out of the television and went upstairs.

His wife then decided to watch the God Channel and went to ask him why the television was not working.

Yvonne Jobling, for the prosecution, said that an argument developed, and Watson accused his wife of being evil. He grabbed his wife by the throat and she fell to the floor. She said: “His grip was so tight she was unable to speak, but she then managed to say something of a religious nature which seemed to cause him to relax his grip.”

Theological argument? C’mon, it’s not like they were discussing transubstantiation vs. transignification or something.

Anyway, the only footage I’ve seen of the movie was a few clips featured in The God Who Wasn’t There. (Trailer available at Google Video.) So, I’m curious. But after reading the story above, perhaps I’d better watch it when then rest of the family is safely out of the house.

It’s starting to sink in that there’s going to be a new baby in the house soon. And while I don’t expect this to become a “baby blog,” my guess is that the arrival of our new addition will overshadow politics a bit. (Or bring them into even sharper focus, depending on how you look at it.) If nothing else, there’ll be more baby pictures. But the Friday random ten will probably stay the same.

Wanna play?

1. Start your MP3 player.
2. Shuffle the whole collection.
3. Hit me with the first ten.

Here’s mine

1. Lies from the album “Best Of En Vogue” by En Vogue
2. Natural Blues from the album “Play” by Moby
3. Time (Clock Of The Heart) from the album “At Worst… The Best Of Culture Club” by Boy George And Culture Club
4. Pearls from the album “The Best Of Sade” by Sade
5. There You Go (Hani Num Club) from the album “There You Go” by Pink
6. Fernando from the album “Gold” by ABBA
7. Lush Life from the album “The Dana Owens Album” by Queen Latifah
8. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. from the album “Illinois” by Sufjan Stevens
9. Make Our Garden Grow/One Hand, One Heart from the album “No One Is Alone” by Laurie Beecham
10. Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) from the album “Other People’s Songs” by Erasure

How ’bout yours?

Had a busy day yesterday, and probably will today too. So posting may be pretty sporadic, or nonexistent until later this afternoon. In the meantime, here’s another random 10.

This is how we do it:

1. Fire up the MP3 player or iTunes.
2. Shuffle everything.
3. Play & post the first 10.

Here’s mine.

1. One from the album “American III” by Johnny Cash
2. I´ll Be Around by Randy Crawford / Tiefschwarz
3. Unconditional Love from the album “The Donna Summer Anthology (disc 2)” by Donna Summer
4. Macho Man from the album “Casablanca Records Greatest Hits” by Village People
5. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun from the album “Twelve Deadly Cyns…And Then Some” by Cyndi Lauper
6. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me from the album “Singles” by The Smiths
7. Jump (Album Version) from the album “Confessions On a Dance Floor” by Madonna
8. Get It Together from the album “Seal: Best, 1991-2004″ by Seal
9. Little By Little from the album “Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub)” by Groove Armada
10. I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish from the album “Singles” by The Smiths

So, what’d you get?

It’s that time again. I’m not sure why I started doing this meme again every Friday, but it feels like a good idea lately; a nice, light way to start the last day of the week before getting into anything serious. The only problem is I’m running out of context-driven subtitles for these posts. So this one is officially “you name it.” Is there a context that fits all the songs? Or do they fit into some context of what’s been going on this week in the news?

I don’t know. I’m asking.

1. Fire up the MP3 player
2. Randomize
3. Gimme ten

Here’s what I got.

1. Boogie Oogie Oogie from the album “Greatest Disco Groups” by A Taste Of Honey
2. Love Is a Stranger from the album “Ultimate Collection” by Eurythmics
3. Looking for a New Love from the album “Sounds of the Eighties: Rockin’ 80’s” by Jody Watley
4. Ode to Billy Joe by Bobby Gentry
5. Do You Miss Me from the album “Fired Up!” by Jocelyn Enriquez
6. I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday from the album “The Best of Morrissey” by Morrissey
7. Alla That’s All Right, But from the album “Breaths” by Sweet Honey In The Rock
8. Last Dance from the album “Divas Of Dance (Disco Nights Volume 1)” by Various Artists
9. The Humpty Dance from the album “Old School Rap” by Digital Underground
10. I’m Not Worried At All from the album “18″ by Moby

I’m not sure what to call it. But I do have a favorite line from one of the songs listed above: “Somebody come and carry me into a seven day kiss…” (That’ll have to wait until I get home, tho’.)

And after writing this post, I just let iTunes keep playing and the next song that came up was Someday from the album “No One Is Alone” by Laurie Beecham. The lyrics? Well, I can’t pick a favorite line, but right about now it seems appropriate to post the whole song.

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This seemed like an interesting music meme.

Kip over at A Stick Stitch in Haste was holding forth about hearing a truncated version of Billy Joel's "Piano Man" on the radio recently, with several verses and a few important characters missing.

So I'm listening to the radio this morning, and they play Billy Joel's most famous song*, Piano Man. I listen with only one ear as the lyrics progress through the well-known cast of characters:

And he's quick with a joke
or to light up your smoke
But there's someplace that he'd rather be.

And the waitress is practicing politics…

Huh, what? Did the vinyl** skip or something?

Where does John-at-the-Bar want to be?
What happened to Davey, who's still in the Navy?
What happened to Paul the closeted homosexual?***

Then he listed the five longest songs in his iTunes library (not counting live performances). It seems like a potentially interesting music meme, considering how often people probably add to their music collections. So I thought I'd give it a spin. Here's what I got.

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Has it really been almost a year since Katrina hit New Orleans, and laid bare the cronyism and imcompetence of the Bush administration? It's hard to believe. I posted a lot about various aspects of the disaster that was the post-hurricane response, the best of which are here, here, here, here, here, here and here. That's my brief retrospective, but I recommend setting Tivo to record Spike Lee's HBO Documentary, When the Levees Broke. I know I will.

This reminds me of a saying I’ve heard from my mom a couple of times: A drunk man speaks a sober mind.

It’s not bad enough that Gibson, darling of religious right since he gave them their very own snuff film, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. But according to one report he was also disorderly, and loudly anti-semetic during his arrest.

TMZ has four pages of the original report prepared by the arresting officer in the case, L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy James Mee. According to the report, Gibson became agitated after he was stopped on Pacific Coast Highway and told he was to be detained for drunk driving Friday morning in Malibu. The actor began swearing uncontrollably. Gibson repeatedly said, “My life is f****d.”

… Once inside the car, a source directly connected with the case says Gibson began banging himself against the seat. The report says Gibson told the deputy, “You mother f****r. I’m going to f*** you.” The report also says “Gibson almost continually [sic] threatened me saying he ‘owns Malibu’ and will spend all of his money to ‘get even’ with me.”

The report says Gibson then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: “F*****g Jews… The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson then asked the deputy, “Are you a Jew?”

I’ll just wait for his christian nationalist cronies to line up and condemn his remarks. But I won’t hold my breath.

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