A
weekly column highlighting lesbian pop culture news
Friday,
November 18, 2005
THE
BIG GAY PICTURE
We launched another website this week: biggaypicture.com,
a blog about gay and lesbian politics and culture. It's kinda
like this column, but updated several times a day, focused
on politics and news instead of entertainment, and co-ed (gay
fiction writers Brent Hartinger and Michael Jensen are providing
the gay male perspective, and I'm
representing the lesbians in the house).
In
case anyone's wondering, no, we're not planning to launch
a new site every week--this is it for awhile--and no, we're
not turning into a big corporation. We're still a small, shoestring
operation (most days, more string than shoe), we just have
more to say than we can fit in one site.
RENT
The big-screen version of the hit broadway musical Rent
opens on Wednesday, November 23rd, with Tracie Thoms and
Idina Menzel playing the bickering lesbian couple. This
will probably be the most prominent theatrical release
to feature lesbian characters this year, and it's got
a great soundtrack--both good reasons for checking it
out even if you're not familiar with the musical. Look
for a review of it on AfterEllen.com in a day or two,
and in the meantime, read about the musical and its evolution
to film here.
GILLERY'S
LITTLE SECRET
Annabeth Gish, who is perhaps best known for her role
in the last two seasons of X-Files, but will
always be the girl from Mystic Pizza to me, plays
a lesbian in a new short film by Liquid
Filmworks called Gillery's Little Secret.
Gish as Gillery returns with her current girlfriend (Julie
Ann Emery, Commander in Chief) to the small town
she grew up in for her 20th high school reunion, and confronts
her now-married first love (Allison Smith), whose teenage
daughter (Jeanette Brox, Jack and Bobby) believes
she has a connection to Gillery.
The
cast is great, and the premise interesting, but the dialogue
and the plot development feels a little rushed and overly
expository--25 minutes just isn't enough time for all the
explanation and character development required to successfully
tell such a complicated story. It's got great potential
as a feature-length film, though, where there would be plenty
of time to tease out the nuances of the story and develop
the characters at a more leisurely pace. And did I mention
the part about Annabeth Gish playing a lesbian? Yeah, there's
that, too.
You
can learn more about the short and see the trailer by clicking
on the link above and looking under Productions.
SAVING
FACE IN ASIA Saving Face's lesbian doctor Michelle
Krusiec didn't win best actress at Asia's prestigious annual
Golden Horse Awards this week, but Saving Face
was voted best film in an audience poll. At which point,
lesbians across Asia squealed "they like us, they really
like us!"
ANNA
NICOLE SMITH GIVES BLACKOUT BINGOA WHOLE
NEW MEANING
Last week, Anna Nicole Smith reportedly picked up a blond
bartender named Tracy from nightclub Hamburger Mary's where
Smith was hosting a charity bingo game, and took her home
for a night of S&M fun. Unfortunately for Smith, Tracy
took some souvenir photos, which will be appearing in an
upcoming issue of the National Enquirer.
FOX
MAKES A HUGE MISTAKE
Fox has declined to pick up Portia de Rossi's sitcom Arrested
Development for a full season, which means it will
only air 13 episodes this season, unless a cable network
like Showtime decides to pick it up, which is unlikely.
Too bad--I could see some real crossover potential with
the L Word: Jenny could team up with Tobias to
write a bad play starring him as a Blue Man Group reject,
and Lindsay could finally make that open marriage dream
a reality by sleeping with Shane.
