One of my favorite blogs, Band of Thebes, has a new post up on some of the books that will be released in 2010 that they're most excited about. I usually don't pay all that much attention to upcoming books, unless they're by a favorite author, since most of what I read has usually been out for a few years at least. Reading this list, though, makes me think 2010 might be different in that respect.
Looking at the authors listed, I saw several reasons to be excited. First, Andre Aciman has a new novel coming out next month. His debut novel, Call Me By Your Name, was fantastic and while it doesn't look like Eight White Nights will be about LGBT characters, I'll be checking it out because he writes so beautifully.
Ali Smith has a short story collection called The First Person and Other Stories, which is actually out today. I really enjoyed her novels The Accidental and Hotel World, so I'll have to take a look at the short stories.
New titles by Martin Amis, John Banville and Ian McEwan are always worth a look, and they all have books coming out later in the year as well. Gay writers Christopher Rice, Bob Smith, and K.M. Soehnlein all have new novels coming out, and though I wouldn't list them among my favorite writers, I have read their earlier works and will probably check out their latest, too.
Most exciting of all, though, was seeing the name Stephen McCauley on the list! I have loved every single one of McCauley's five novels so much, and I can't wait until his latest, Insignificant Others, is released in June!
McCauley doesn't publish all that often, so this is a huge deal. I think I'm going to re-read his earlier books in the lead up to June to remind myself of what I love about his writing and to build up the anticipation even more!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Jane Lynch on Obama
Just when I thought I couldn't love (worship?) Jane Lynch any more than I already did, she proves me wrong!
The woman who makes Sue Sylvester the true star of Glee just gave a fantastic interview to the Guardian which is not only a great interview in and of itself, but also takes on President Obama for his failures on gay rights.
The woman who makes Sue Sylvester the true star of Glee just gave a fantastic interview to the Guardian which is not only a great interview in and of itself, but also takes on President Obama for his failures on gay rights.
They are, however, projecting their values on to Lynch's private life. This past year saw a nationwide rejection of legalising gay marriage, stripping gay Americans of their hope for equal civil rights. "Shouldn't there be safeguards against the majority voting on the rights of a minority?" Lynch wonders. "If people voted on civil rights in the 60s, it would have never happened. It took somebody like [President] Lyndon Johnson going, 'F all of you! I'm going to do this.'" She pauses for a moment, then says, "Obama won't do it. He's a huge disappointment to me."
And that's how Jane C's it. (Sorry, I couldn't resist!).
While the Guardian's summary is a bit on the dire side (some states did legalize gay marriage this past year, and our hope has not been stripped!), what Jane had to say is completely awesome.
Needless to say, I'm in total agreement with her. If Obama thinks he's going to win the LGBT vote in 2012 by failing to live up to his promises, he's sorely mistaken. It's great to have someone who is very much in the spotlight for their work, as Jane is, speak out about this and bring that much more attention to this complete failure in leadership.
While the Guardian's summary is a bit on the dire side (some states did legalize gay marriage this past year, and our hope has not been stripped!), what Jane had to say is completely awesome.
Needless to say, I'm in total agreement with her. If Obama thinks he's going to win the LGBT vote in 2012 by failing to live up to his promises, he's sorely mistaken. It's great to have someone who is very much in the spotlight for their work, as Jane is, speak out about this and bring that much more attention to this complete failure in leadership.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
My Favorite Gay Films
I've written about some of my favorite gay themed books, but it occurred to me the other day that I'd never done the same for gay themed films. I decided to make a list of my top 10 favorites, which turned out to be a lot harder than I'd imagined.
A former roommate of mine, who happened to be straight, once asked me if I'd ever seen a gay movie that I didn't like. He was being sarcastic, of course, but the truth is that there are way more than 10 films that I've loved or at least really liked. Still, I've seen a lot of very bad gay films, too, and a fair amount of mediocre ones as well.
I've heard more than once, from other gay men, that there just aren't any truly good gay films, that such a thing has not yet been made. Everyone's opinions are subjective, of course, and I guess if we're talking about full on masterpieces that would stand up against the best films of all time, the pickings would indeed be slim.
My own criteria is less exacting. I look for a movie that is well written and well acted, something that moves me in some way, whether it leaves me in tears, excites the romantic in me, or just makes me feel good.
The true test, of course, is whether or not it's a film that I can watch over and over again multiple times and still love it as much as I did on the first viewing. I ended up leaving off a few of the newer films that I've really liked, simply because I'm not sure yet how they'll stand up to this test.
11. The Trip. In the end, I just couldn't limit the list to 10, so I decided I had to make the list 11 films long instead. The Trip is about two lovers who meet in 1973. One is a gay activist and the other is an uptight, closeted Young Republican. The story takes place in three different segments, in the early 70's, late 70's, and early 80's as the political and social changes of gay life (including the AIDS epidemic), affect their relationship and lives. Steve Braun and Larry Sullivan both did a very good job in the lead roles, and Sullivan's roadside strip tease toward the end of the film is certainly memorable. The supporting characters tend to be a bit broadly written & acted, created with humor in mind more than anything else, but the basic story at the center is a good one.
10. Edge of Seventeen. This is probably the most realistic coming of age film I've seen about a gay character. Chris Stafford was very good as Eric, the lead character, who is coming to terms with his sexuality in the summer of 1984. In real life, most of us don't end up having ideal first times, and this film is full of the sort of awkward and less than perfect experiences people go through when they're coming out and becoming sexually and romantically involved for the first time and just trying to find out who they are.
9. The Boys in the Band. After Stonewall, when the fight for gay rights truly got under way and the mentality of the gay community itself changed, this movie (which came out in 1970) and the stage play it was based on came to be regarded as a negative throwback because the gay characters show such incredible self loathing as the film progresses.
It's certainly true that this isn't a film about the out and proud gay men of the later 70's or today, but there's no denying that it captures the pre-Stonewall mentality of a lot of gay men (at least those in cities like New York), guys who were completely out with each other but who were still seen as freaks by the rest of the world and took that very much to heart. The relationships between the gay friends all seem very real and the psychological impact of the arrival of a straight character at their party makes for a powerful film as they begin to tear themselves and each other apart.
It's very much of that era in the sense that you come away thinking that it's awfully depressing to be gay, and yet at the same time I was amazed to find a film from 1970 that is completely centered around gay characters and is very upfront in discussing their sex lives and relationships.
8. Trick. The adorable Christian Campbell and the incredibly sexy John Paul Pitoc spend an entire night trying to find a place to have a meaningless hook up, only to fall for each other in the process. Trick is funny, it has memorable supporting characters (yes, even the one played by Tori Spelling!), and it's sweet and romantic. Sometimes, after I make eye contact with a really cute guy and he smiles at me, I find myself humming the song that Christian's character is writing for his musical in the movie (Enter you, voila it's showtime...). That's certainly a measure of the film's impact, right?
7. Brokeback Mountain. You may be surprised that this isn't higher on my list. As a film, it's artistically very well done and Heath Ledger was so amazing in this movie. He was understated and brilliant. But it's actually a pretty hard movie to watch, at least for me, because it leaves me feeling so depressed afterward. I certainly don't need a movie to end happily to love it, but this is the kind of film that just hurts, if that makes sense. The love story is just so tragic, so pathetic, and so realistic for that time and place. It's an amazing work and easily one of the best mainstream films ever made dealing with gay themes.
6. Get Real. This was one of the first gay themed movies I ever saw. It's about two middle class British teens who fall in love. One is the school's star athlete and the other is Steven Carter, the character I completely fell for at the time. Most people would probably have fallen for John Dixon, the jock, but Steven's sarcastic sense of humor and goofy grin convinced me that I had to find a guy like that for myself. It's a funny, bittersweet story about finding out who you are and about the choices you make in life. The ending always makes me sad, but I love the film.
5. Shelter. This is a movie about a working class surfer/artist helping to raise his nephew while falling in love with the older brother of his best friend. He has to try and balance his love life and hopes for the future with the harsh realities of his daily life. The romance was beautifully done and Trevor Wright was incredible in the lead role.
4. Latter Days. This film just completely blew me away when I saw it. It's about an L.A. party boy who makes a bet with his friends that he can bed one of the Mormon missionaries who have moved into their building. From that premise and from the beginning of the film itself, you expect something a bit fluffy and light, but what you get is an incredibly beautiful love story that also deals with the harsh realities of what it means to be gay and Mormon. Steve Sandvoss was fantastic as the gay Mormon character (I'm truly surprised that I've seen him in so few films since this one) and the big love scene between him and Wes Ramsey's character was pretty much the best I've seen in any film.
3. The Broken Hearts Club. I love this movie so much! It's my favorite gay film that isn't really about a love story but rather about a group of gay friends. Who doesn't want to have the kind of friendships that this film is all about? The guys in the film are always comparing themselves to characters in other films (Steel Magnolias, St. Elmo's Fire) and by the time you're done watching you're busy deciding which characters in this film are the most like you and all your friends. This movie is funny and sweet and if I could pick a movie to just live in, to be my life, I think it would be this one.
2. Milk. What more can I say about this film? It's the movie that finally provided mainstream film goers with a depiction of a true gay hero. It's not a perfect film, of course. It whitewashed a lot of the sexual realities of Harvey's life and of gay life in general in the 70's, but it is still, in my view, the best mainstream gay themed film to date. It has an incredible cast, was written by a very talented screenwriter, and was a story that was long overdue to be told.
1. Beautiful Thing. This movie will always be number one with me, maybe because it was literally number one, the first gay themed film I ever saw. If I had to pick a movie to be anyone's first gay themed film, this would be the one. I'm very lucky to have stumbled upon it as my own first, thanks to whatever cable film channel I saw it on many years ago.
Whereas Get Real was a film about middle class British teens, this film (which I could recite line for line by heart, I think, I've seen it so often) is about working class British teens, living on a council estate in an environment where being gay could easily have very dire consequences. And yet, it lives up to its title completely. Ste and Jamie don't have it easy, but their love defies all odds in this film. The ending, which I won't give away in case you haven't seen it, is my favorite final scene of any film, ever. It's just so hopeful, so empowering, and so beautiful.
This is another film with a memorable cast of supporting characters, and Linda Henry (currently starring on the British soap Eastenders) deserves special notice for her role as Jamie's hard edged but fiercely protective mother Sandra. On top of everything else, the movie has a fantastic soundtrack of songs by The Mamas and the Papas. If you haven't seen this film, you really should!
Of course, I think you should seen all of the films on this list. They're my favorites, after all!
A former roommate of mine, who happened to be straight, once asked me if I'd ever seen a gay movie that I didn't like. He was being sarcastic, of course, but the truth is that there are way more than 10 films that I've loved or at least really liked. Still, I've seen a lot of very bad gay films, too, and a fair amount of mediocre ones as well.
I've heard more than once, from other gay men, that there just aren't any truly good gay films, that such a thing has not yet been made. Everyone's opinions are subjective, of course, and I guess if we're talking about full on masterpieces that would stand up against the best films of all time, the pickings would indeed be slim.
My own criteria is less exacting. I look for a movie that is well written and well acted, something that moves me in some way, whether it leaves me in tears, excites the romantic in me, or just makes me feel good.
The true test, of course, is whether or not it's a film that I can watch over and over again multiple times and still love it as much as I did on the first viewing. I ended up leaving off a few of the newer films that I've really liked, simply because I'm not sure yet how they'll stand up to this test.
11. The Trip. In the end, I just couldn't limit the list to 10, so I decided I had to make the list 11 films long instead. The Trip is about two lovers who meet in 1973. One is a gay activist and the other is an uptight, closeted Young Republican. The story takes place in three different segments, in the early 70's, late 70's, and early 80's as the political and social changes of gay life (including the AIDS epidemic), affect their relationship and lives. Steve Braun and Larry Sullivan both did a very good job in the lead roles, and Sullivan's roadside strip tease toward the end of the film is certainly memorable. The supporting characters tend to be a bit broadly written & acted, created with humor in mind more than anything else, but the basic story at the center is a good one.
10. Edge of Seventeen. This is probably the most realistic coming of age film I've seen about a gay character. Chris Stafford was very good as Eric, the lead character, who is coming to terms with his sexuality in the summer of 1984. In real life, most of us don't end up having ideal first times, and this film is full of the sort of awkward and less than perfect experiences people go through when they're coming out and becoming sexually and romantically involved for the first time and just trying to find out who they are.
9. The Boys in the Band. After Stonewall, when the fight for gay rights truly got under way and the mentality of the gay community itself changed, this movie (which came out in 1970) and the stage play it was based on came to be regarded as a negative throwback because the gay characters show such incredible self loathing as the film progresses.
It's certainly true that this isn't a film about the out and proud gay men of the later 70's or today, but there's no denying that it captures the pre-Stonewall mentality of a lot of gay men (at least those in cities like New York), guys who were completely out with each other but who were still seen as freaks by the rest of the world and took that very much to heart. The relationships between the gay friends all seem very real and the psychological impact of the arrival of a straight character at their party makes for a powerful film as they begin to tear themselves and each other apart.
It's very much of that era in the sense that you come away thinking that it's awfully depressing to be gay, and yet at the same time I was amazed to find a film from 1970 that is completely centered around gay characters and is very upfront in discussing their sex lives and relationships.
8. Trick. The adorable Christian Campbell and the incredibly sexy John Paul Pitoc spend an entire night trying to find a place to have a meaningless hook up, only to fall for each other in the process. Trick is funny, it has memorable supporting characters (yes, even the one played by Tori Spelling!), and it's sweet and romantic. Sometimes, after I make eye contact with a really cute guy and he smiles at me, I find myself humming the song that Christian's character is writing for his musical in the movie (Enter you, voila it's showtime...). That's certainly a measure of the film's impact, right?
7. Brokeback Mountain. You may be surprised that this isn't higher on my list. As a film, it's artistically very well done and Heath Ledger was so amazing in this movie. He was understated and brilliant. But it's actually a pretty hard movie to watch, at least for me, because it leaves me feeling so depressed afterward. I certainly don't need a movie to end happily to love it, but this is the kind of film that just hurts, if that makes sense. The love story is just so tragic, so pathetic, and so realistic for that time and place. It's an amazing work and easily one of the best mainstream films ever made dealing with gay themes.
6. Get Real. This was one of the first gay themed movies I ever saw. It's about two middle class British teens who fall in love. One is the school's star athlete and the other is Steven Carter, the character I completely fell for at the time. Most people would probably have fallen for John Dixon, the jock, but Steven's sarcastic sense of humor and goofy grin convinced me that I had to find a guy like that for myself. It's a funny, bittersweet story about finding out who you are and about the choices you make in life. The ending always makes me sad, but I love the film.
5. Shelter. This is a movie about a working class surfer/artist helping to raise his nephew while falling in love with the older brother of his best friend. He has to try and balance his love life and hopes for the future with the harsh realities of his daily life. The romance was beautifully done and Trevor Wright was incredible in the lead role.
4. Latter Days. This film just completely blew me away when I saw it. It's about an L.A. party boy who makes a bet with his friends that he can bed one of the Mormon missionaries who have moved into their building. From that premise and from the beginning of the film itself, you expect something a bit fluffy and light, but what you get is an incredibly beautiful love story that also deals with the harsh realities of what it means to be gay and Mormon. Steve Sandvoss was fantastic as the gay Mormon character (I'm truly surprised that I've seen him in so few films since this one) and the big love scene between him and Wes Ramsey's character was pretty much the best I've seen in any film.
3. The Broken Hearts Club. I love this movie so much! It's my favorite gay film that isn't really about a love story but rather about a group of gay friends. Who doesn't want to have the kind of friendships that this film is all about? The guys in the film are always comparing themselves to characters in other films (Steel Magnolias, St. Elmo's Fire) and by the time you're done watching you're busy deciding which characters in this film are the most like you and all your friends. This movie is funny and sweet and if I could pick a movie to just live in, to be my life, I think it would be this one.
2. Milk. What more can I say about this film? It's the movie that finally provided mainstream film goers with a depiction of a true gay hero. It's not a perfect film, of course. It whitewashed a lot of the sexual realities of Harvey's life and of gay life in general in the 70's, but it is still, in my view, the best mainstream gay themed film to date. It has an incredible cast, was written by a very talented screenwriter, and was a story that was long overdue to be told.
1. Beautiful Thing. This movie will always be number one with me, maybe because it was literally number one, the first gay themed film I ever saw. If I had to pick a movie to be anyone's first gay themed film, this would be the one. I'm very lucky to have stumbled upon it as my own first, thanks to whatever cable film channel I saw it on many years ago.
Whereas Get Real was a film about middle class British teens, this film (which I could recite line for line by heart, I think, I've seen it so often) is about working class British teens, living on a council estate in an environment where being gay could easily have very dire consequences. And yet, it lives up to its title completely. Ste and Jamie don't have it easy, but their love defies all odds in this film. The ending, which I won't give away in case you haven't seen it, is my favorite final scene of any film, ever. It's just so hopeful, so empowering, and so beautiful.
This is another film with a memorable cast of supporting characters, and Linda Henry (currently starring on the British soap Eastenders) deserves special notice for her role as Jamie's hard edged but fiercely protective mother Sandra. On top of everything else, the movie has a fantastic soundtrack of songs by The Mamas and the Papas. If you haven't seen this film, you really should!
Of course, I think you should seen all of the films on this list. They're my favorites, after all!
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Special Guest Star
There was a rumor flying around the Internet that Adam Lambert was going to be guest starring on Glee as a mentor character for Kurt. Lambert and Glee being two of my favorite things in the world, that would pretty much have made my day.
Adam himself dispelled the rumor on Twitter, though, and went on to say that he'd love to guest star on True Blood (which I haven't yet seen, though co-workers assure me that I must!), Weeds (never seen it), or Gossip Girl (of which I'm not a fan, unless Ed Westwick is kissing another guy).
These tweets lead to Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly coming up with his own dream guest starring role for Adam on Ugly Betty:
Adam himself dispelled the rumor on Twitter, though, and went on to say that he'd love to guest star on True Blood (which I haven't yet seen, though co-workers assure me that I must!), Weeds (never seen it), or Gossip Girl (of which I'm not a fan, unless Ed Westwick is kissing another guy).
These tweets lead to Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly coming up with his own dream guest starring role for Adam on Ugly Betty:
I’d cast Adam as a Trevor de l’Abdul, contestant on a Project Runway-esque show for aspiring fashion designers — where Vanessa L. Williams’ formidable editrix Wilhelmina Slater just so happens to be a judge/mentor. Things get complicated when Trevor hooks up with Willie’s gay-in-waiting Marc (Michael Urie) during a Mode-sponsored cocktail party for the contestants. The morning after, Marc can’t figure out if Trevor is just using him to court favor with Willie, while Willie herself gets fearful that if the Marc-Trevor dalliance goes public (thanks to that relentless dish-hound Suzuki St. Pierre!), she could get painted as a less-than-impartial judge. And it’s up to Betty to investigate whether the dashing young designer truly has the hots for her frenemy, or if he’s simply using every angle possible to take home first prize.
Slezak challenged the Adam fans to come up with their own dream guest roles for Lambert and I've been trying to imagine him on the various shows that I watch: a glampire on Supernatural, maybe, or a spoiled rock star who is a new client for Ella and Amanda's firm on Melrose Place. I even tried to fit him into How I Met Your Mother as a date of Robin's who turns out to be bisexual and interested in her ex/roommate Ted.
Nothing seemed as good as Slezak's idea, though. Unless, of course, Adam wants to commit to a recurring role on One Life to Live, where he can play Nick's new love interest, a singer that Rex has hired to perform at Ultra Violet on the occasional night when major recording artists aren't stopping by.
Or maybe things could get really interesting when a jilted Rex, dumped by Gigi and with no interest in Stacy, decides to explore his bisexual side, creating a steamy love triangle when Gigi decides she wants Rex back.
Now I'm suddenly picturing a Dynasty-esque catfight between Adam and Gigi in a lily pond on the Buchanan estate! How hot would that be?!
I have to say, I can't quite picture Adam on Glee, as much as I'd love to see him there, but Slezak's idea sounds really good to me! The de l’Abdul really made me laugh, and I could easily see this as an actual story on the show. I think Adam would be great in the role, camping it up and being fierce, and how cool would it be to see him working with Vanessa Williams and Michael Urie?
Michael has already tweeted that he'd be on board with the story, so all we need now is Adam. And, you know, the producers and writers of the show.
Ugly Betty is a show that I loved in its first season but have inexplicably only watched sporadically since. I never really made a decision to stop following the series, I just somehow lost track of it along the way. I have always meant to catch up with it on DVD and I'm sure I will at some point.Michael has already tweeted that he'd be on board with the story, so all we need now is Adam. And, you know, the producers and writers of the show.
Slezak challenged the Adam fans to come up with their own dream guest roles for Lambert and I've been trying to imagine him on the various shows that I watch: a glampire on Supernatural, maybe, or a spoiled rock star who is a new client for Ella and Amanda's firm on Melrose Place. I even tried to fit him into How I Met Your Mother as a date of Robin's who turns out to be bisexual and interested in her ex/roommate Ted.
Nothing seemed as good as Slezak's idea, though. Unless, of course, Adam wants to commit to a recurring role on One Life to Live, where he can play Nick's new love interest, a singer that Rex has hired to perform at Ultra Violet on the occasional night when major recording artists aren't stopping by.
Or maybe things could get really interesting when a jilted Rex, dumped by Gigi and with no interest in Stacy, decides to explore his bisexual side, creating a steamy love triangle when Gigi decides she wants Rex back.
Now I'm suddenly picturing a Dynasty-esque catfight between Adam and Gigi in a lily pond on the Buchanan estate! How hot would that be?!
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Setback in New Jersey
The fight for marriage equality in the United States suffered the first setback of the new year in New Jersey today, where the state Senate voted 20-14 against a bill that would have legalized same sex marriage.
It was especially crucial for the bill to pass at this point, since outgoing Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat, had promised to sign it into law, while incoming Republican Governor Chris Christie is on record as being opposed to the bill.
Still, as painful as it always is when a vote goes against us (and honestly, nothing could be more painful or downright infuriating then the idea that our basic civil rights are something people can vote to deny us!), this was just a setback, not a defeat. Stephen Goldstein, the director of Garden State Equality, had this to say:
It was especially crucial for the bill to pass at this point, since outgoing Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat, had promised to sign it into law, while incoming Republican Governor Chris Christie is on record as being opposed to the bill.
Still, as painful as it always is when a vote goes against us (and honestly, nothing could be more painful or downright infuriating then the idea that our basic civil rights are something people can vote to deny us!), this was just a setback, not a defeat. Stephen Goldstein, the director of Garden State Equality, had this to say:
"Though we didn’t achieve our final victory today, we’re better positioned than we were a few months ago to win marriage equality. On the one hand, we resent, more than you can imagine, remaining second-class citizens a bit longer. On the other hand, the ball has moved forward."
It sounds like the New Jersey courts are the next stop in the fight for equality there.
The new year started with joyous wedding ceremonies for same sex couples in New Hampshire, and that is the image I'm going to carry in my mind all year, through the inevitable ups and downs of this ongoing fight.
The new year started with joyous wedding ceremonies for same sex couples in New Hampshire, and that is the image I'm going to carry in my mind all year, through the inevitable ups and downs of this ongoing fight.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Glee: The People's Choice
I typically don't miss many awards shows, even though I tend to fast forward past a lot of stuff that doesn't interest me. One ceremony that I haven't watched in years, though, is The People's Choice Awards.
It's not that I have something against awards chosen by the public, rather than by the industry itself (although, seeing that the night's biggest honors went to Miley Cyrus, Taylor Lautner, and the Twilight movies makes me think that I'm decidedly out of step with 'the public' anyway, since the voters must have all been 15 or under), but because I don't like shows where the winners know who they are in advance and are the only nominees who show up! It takes all the drama and excitement out of the whole thing.
Of course, I haven't watched in about ten years, so maybe they don't do it that way anymore.
I do wish I'd set my Tivo for this year's People's Choice Awards, though. I didn't even know it was on until after it was over, when I read that Glee had won for Favorite New TV Comedy. Looking at the list of winners, I see a few other favorites as well, like Supernatural, which won Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show, and Alyson Hannigan, who won for Favorite TV Comedy Actress for her work on How I Met Your Mother.
I'm glad that Glee is winning the popular vote! I'm hoping that they'll also be getting critical recognition at the Golden Globes and then at the Emmys.
It's not that I have something against awards chosen by the public, rather than by the industry itself (although, seeing that the night's biggest honors went to Miley Cyrus, Taylor Lautner, and the Twilight movies makes me think that I'm decidedly out of step with 'the public' anyway, since the voters must have all been 15 or under), but because I don't like shows where the winners know who they are in advance and are the only nominees who show up! It takes all the drama and excitement out of the whole thing.
Of course, I haven't watched in about ten years, so maybe they don't do it that way anymore.
I do wish I'd set my Tivo for this year's People's Choice Awards, though. I didn't even know it was on until after it was over, when I read that Glee had won for Favorite New TV Comedy. Looking at the list of winners, I see a few other favorites as well, like Supernatural, which won Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show, and Alyson Hannigan, who won for Favorite TV Comedy Actress for her work on How I Met Your Mother.
I'm glad that Glee is winning the popular vote! I'm hoping that they'll also be getting critical recognition at the Golden Globes and then at the Emmys.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Nuke Day: Who Are These People?
Today was the first Nuke day of the New Year and it was a bit less joyous than the first Kish day of 2010, to put it mildly.
I know that I shouldn't compare the two stories, given that they're on different shows, airing on separate networks and that one is being written by a head writer with talent and the other by the exact opposite, but such comparisons are inevitable. I just want to be clear that if I'm complaining about what's happening with Nuke it's because of the failures in the writing and not because Nuke isn't Kish.
I am still a Nuke fan and always will be, long after new episodes have ceased to air. For as much wasted potential as there has been in this story, Luke and Noah are still the duo that blazed the trail for Kyle and Fish and any other gay male couple that the soaps have in their future. They have meant and still mean a lot to me. It's just that I'm a fan of Luke and Noah, and not of these two strangers who seem to have taken their place in Oakdale at the moment.
With that said, on to today's show. Noah was back from the clinic for good, apparently, but I felt like I've missed a scene somewhere, which is all too common with this show. Noah seems to have been checked out by a doctor and given bad news about his chances of regaining his vision, though none of this is shown or even discussed in much detail.
Noah, Luke, Lucinda and Lily were hanging out in the Snyder living room (or the Grimaldi living room, I guess I should say these days) and Noah was talking about not wanting to feel like a charity case. Everyone was assuring him that they didn't think of him that way in the least, but Noah informed them all that he wanted to fight.
No, he didn't mean fight with Luke, as his overall attitude toward his boyfriend would suggest, but rather than he wanted to fight to regain his sight. There's this doctor in Dallas, Reid Oliver, who has been doing miraculous work in restoring eyesight to people who've been given similar odds as Noah. Apparently, he's assured Noah that he can help him.
Our Mr. Mayer was all for charging ahead with this doctor, but Lucinda suggested that she at least have Dr. Oliver checked out first. Noah snapped that she should check with the people who have their sight back because of Dr. Oliver and Lucinda gently assured him that she'd make those calls, too.
Wait, a hopeless diagnosis and a maverick doctor who the parents (adoptive/ in-laws, in this case) may disapprove of? If Noah ends up being shanghaied to a boarding school in Europe after winning a lawsuit against his new adoptive parents for the right to have the surgery, I think I may have seen this story recently on One Life to Live, only with paralysis instead of blindness.
Lily and Lucinda made a hasty and not very subtle exit so that Luke and Noah could be alone. As soon as they were, Noah warned Luke not to try and talk him out of being treated by Dr. Oliver and Luke assured him that he wasn't going to. He was just happy to have his boyfriend back, and he tried to demonstrate it by moving in for a kiss, only to have Noah pull away from him abruptly for the fiftieth time.
Noah told Luke that he wasn't ready to act like nothing had happened and Luke assured his boyfriend that they were still 'us'. Noah snarled that he was trying to deal with what has happened to him, so did they have to drag 'us' into every conversation they have?
Luke apologized for 'pressuring' Noah, who said that he was just trying to do something proactive and not just wallow. Luke said he thought that was why rehab at the clinic had been so good for Noah, but his boyfriend yelled that rehab was not good for him, that finding a doctor with skills would be good for him.
Noah accused Luke of just wanting him to accept his blindness and move on, and Luke told him that wasn't fair or true, that all he wanted was for the most important person in his life to get better... and to do so in Oakdale, with him.
Noah said that being dependent on Luke and his family wasn't the life he wanted and that everything else was secondary to his need to see again.
Luke asked if that included him and Noah didn't answer, letting silence speak louder than words, I guess. The next time we saw the guys they were standing outside the house, where Noah was asking if the evergreen trees were covered with snow. When Luke said that they were, Noah said that he hadn't realize how much he'd always loved seeing that until he couldn't, just like he'd never realized how much his film had meant to him until he couldn't finish it.
Luke sweetly said that what the film meant to Noah was present in every single frame and Noah said that even so, it was just a series of random shots, not a complete film.
I felt like I was helplessly watching a puppy start to run across a busy freeway as Luke smiled and told Noah that the student film committee hadn't thought the film was incomplete at all and then presented him with the award for first place that Noah's film had won.
Okay, I've been harsh to Noah for being so angry with Luke, so it's only fair to note that Luke's brilliant idea to have the cast and crew on Noah's film finish it up without him and then edit it for him was about the worst idea ever. To have done it all, including entering it for an award, without even mentioning it to his boyfriend made it even more moronic.
Luke has a tendency to act from the heart without thinking things through, but this is just a bit too much, especially since he knows that Noah feels like a charity case already. Even if he'd felt it was the right thing in the beginning, Noah's subsequent feelings should have clued him in to the reality of what his reaction would be. But, no. Like that puppy on the freeway, Luke remained utterly clueless as to the consequences of his actions.
Luke told Noah about how easy it was to follow Noah's blueprint to finish the scenes he hadn't shot yet, about the crowd's reaction at the screening and how great the moment had been, just being completely insensitive and totally not the Luke Snyder I've been watching for the past few years.
Luke is an artist, too, a writer, so he above anyone else should get how deeply personal someones work is and how you can't just finish it for them and expect them to be happy about it! But then, they threw out the sensitive writer side of Luke to thrust him into business with Damian and things have just gone downhill from there.
I found myself detesting Luke's clueless naivete as much as I've been detesting Noah for showing no emotion but anger. The writing is so terribly out of character for both of them, but then plot is all that matters to the hack writers on this show. Characterization is the first thing they toss out the window.
Anyway, as anyone with even a hint of intelligence and sensitivity (which for the moment no longer includes Luke) could see coming a mile away, Noah not so gently informed Luke that since he'd finished shooting the film, edited it, and accepted the award, it was Luke's film, not his, and that Luke was once again trying to control him.
When Luke asked why Noah couldn't see that it was still his film, Noah aptly pointed out that he couldn't see, period, and stumbled into the house, slamming the door behind him.
Inside, Noah struggled to put a disc into his laptop (the film?) while out on the porch, Luke was calling Dr. Reed Oliver on Noah's behalf.
The other day, I mentioned that I wanted to see more from Jake Silbermann's performance, that all I was getting was anger, with no hint of all the emotions underneath. Now I understand that the powers that be on this show don't care to see anything but the surface, since that's as deep as their story telling goes.
This isn't the Luke or the Noah that I've come to know over the last few years. I can only hope that they will once again begin to resemble themselves before the series comes to an end.
I know that I shouldn't compare the two stories, given that they're on different shows, airing on separate networks and that one is being written by a head writer with talent and the other by the exact opposite, but such comparisons are inevitable. I just want to be clear that if I'm complaining about what's happening with Nuke it's because of the failures in the writing and not because Nuke isn't Kish.
I am still a Nuke fan and always will be, long after new episodes have ceased to air. For as much wasted potential as there has been in this story, Luke and Noah are still the duo that blazed the trail for Kyle and Fish and any other gay male couple that the soaps have in their future. They have meant and still mean a lot to me. It's just that I'm a fan of Luke and Noah, and not of these two strangers who seem to have taken their place in Oakdale at the moment.
With that said, on to today's show. Noah was back from the clinic for good, apparently, but I felt like I've missed a scene somewhere, which is all too common with this show. Noah seems to have been checked out by a doctor and given bad news about his chances of regaining his vision, though none of this is shown or even discussed in much detail.
Noah, Luke, Lucinda and Lily were hanging out in the Snyder living room (or the Grimaldi living room, I guess I should say these days) and Noah was talking about not wanting to feel like a charity case. Everyone was assuring him that they didn't think of him that way in the least, but Noah informed them all that he wanted to fight.
No, he didn't mean fight with Luke, as his overall attitude toward his boyfriend would suggest, but rather than he wanted to fight to regain his sight. There's this doctor in Dallas, Reid Oliver, who has been doing miraculous work in restoring eyesight to people who've been given similar odds as Noah. Apparently, he's assured Noah that he can help him.
Our Mr. Mayer was all for charging ahead with this doctor, but Lucinda suggested that she at least have Dr. Oliver checked out first. Noah snapped that she should check with the people who have their sight back because of Dr. Oliver and Lucinda gently assured him that she'd make those calls, too.
Wait, a hopeless diagnosis and a maverick doctor who the parents (adoptive/ in-laws, in this case) may disapprove of? If Noah ends up being shanghaied to a boarding school in Europe after winning a lawsuit against his new adoptive parents for the right to have the surgery, I think I may have seen this story recently on One Life to Live, only with paralysis instead of blindness.
Lily and Lucinda made a hasty and not very subtle exit so that Luke and Noah could be alone. As soon as they were, Noah warned Luke not to try and talk him out of being treated by Dr. Oliver and Luke assured him that he wasn't going to. He was just happy to have his boyfriend back, and he tried to demonstrate it by moving in for a kiss, only to have Noah pull away from him abruptly for the fiftieth time.
Noah told Luke that he wasn't ready to act like nothing had happened and Luke assured his boyfriend that they were still 'us'. Noah snarled that he was trying to deal with what has happened to him, so did they have to drag 'us' into every conversation they have?
Luke apologized for 'pressuring' Noah, who said that he was just trying to do something proactive and not just wallow. Luke said he thought that was why rehab at the clinic had been so good for Noah, but his boyfriend yelled that rehab was not good for him, that finding a doctor with skills would be good for him.
Noah accused Luke of just wanting him to accept his blindness and move on, and Luke told him that wasn't fair or true, that all he wanted was for the most important person in his life to get better... and to do so in Oakdale, with him.
Noah said that being dependent on Luke and his family wasn't the life he wanted and that everything else was secondary to his need to see again.
Luke asked if that included him and Noah didn't answer, letting silence speak louder than words, I guess. The next time we saw the guys they were standing outside the house, where Noah was asking if the evergreen trees were covered with snow. When Luke said that they were, Noah said that he hadn't realize how much he'd always loved seeing that until he couldn't, just like he'd never realized how much his film had meant to him until he couldn't finish it.
Luke sweetly said that what the film meant to Noah was present in every single frame and Noah said that even so, it was just a series of random shots, not a complete film.
I felt like I was helplessly watching a puppy start to run across a busy freeway as Luke smiled and told Noah that the student film committee hadn't thought the film was incomplete at all and then presented him with the award for first place that Noah's film had won.
Okay, I've been harsh to Noah for being so angry with Luke, so it's only fair to note that Luke's brilliant idea to have the cast and crew on Noah's film finish it up without him and then edit it for him was about the worst idea ever. To have done it all, including entering it for an award, without even mentioning it to his boyfriend made it even more moronic.
Luke has a tendency to act from the heart without thinking things through, but this is just a bit too much, especially since he knows that Noah feels like a charity case already. Even if he'd felt it was the right thing in the beginning, Noah's subsequent feelings should have clued him in to the reality of what his reaction would be. But, no. Like that puppy on the freeway, Luke remained utterly clueless as to the consequences of his actions.
Luke told Noah about how easy it was to follow Noah's blueprint to finish the scenes he hadn't shot yet, about the crowd's reaction at the screening and how great the moment had been, just being completely insensitive and totally not the Luke Snyder I've been watching for the past few years.
Luke is an artist, too, a writer, so he above anyone else should get how deeply personal someones work is and how you can't just finish it for them and expect them to be happy about it! But then, they threw out the sensitive writer side of Luke to thrust him into business with Damian and things have just gone downhill from there.
I found myself detesting Luke's clueless naivete as much as I've been detesting Noah for showing no emotion but anger. The writing is so terribly out of character for both of them, but then plot is all that matters to the hack writers on this show. Characterization is the first thing they toss out the window.
Anyway, as anyone with even a hint of intelligence and sensitivity (which for the moment no longer includes Luke) could see coming a mile away, Noah not so gently informed Luke that since he'd finished shooting the film, edited it, and accepted the award, it was Luke's film, not his, and that Luke was once again trying to control him.
When Luke asked why Noah couldn't see that it was still his film, Noah aptly pointed out that he couldn't see, period, and stumbled into the house, slamming the door behind him.
Inside, Noah struggled to put a disc into his laptop (the film?) while out on the porch, Luke was calling Dr. Reed Oliver on Noah's behalf.
The other day, I mentioned that I wanted to see more from Jake Silbermann's performance, that all I was getting was anger, with no hint of all the emotions underneath. Now I understand that the powers that be on this show don't care to see anything but the surface, since that's as deep as their story telling goes.
This isn't the Luke or the Noah that I've come to know over the last few years. I can only hope that they will once again begin to resemble themselves before the series comes to an end.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Kish: Hello Young Lovers
Today brought the first Kish scenes of the new year and the guys are certainly off to a great start. It began with Fish waking up the morning after and breaking out in this huge, completely adorable smile as the events of the night before came rushing back. He turned over and found Kyle propped up on one arm, watching him sleep (in a sweet, romantic way, not in a creepy way!) with a beatific smile on his own face.
The two shared some amusing and completely endearing pillow talk about being boyfriends before Roxy suddenly burst in without knocking. After calling them gorgeous hunks and making a joke, complete with simulated porn music, about her fantasy of playing the sexy pizza delivery girl to them (!), Roxy joined them on the bed and delivered the morning paper, full of the bad news that Dorian had fired Oliver's boss the night before.
When we next saw the guys they'd managed to put their shirts back on, sadly enough, but were still apparently wearing nothing else underneath the sheets. Roxy didn't seem to mind, though, and plopped right down between them on the bed, giving them each a kiss on the cheek and telling them how happy she was for the two of them. It was really sweet.
At that point, Fish got a phone call from John McBain and told Kyle and Roxy that he had to go help transport Mitch Lawrence back to jail. Roxy freaked out and urged Fish to make sure that Mitch stayed in jail.
Kyle and Oliver said a very cute goodbye at the door and once Roxy and Kyle were alone she pressed him for all the details. Kyle was a perfect gentleman, though, so Roxy asked what had happened with Nick.
Kyle explained that Nick had moved out and that he'd been the one who Roxy had talked to on the phone. Kyle apologized for not believing Roxy and for implying that she'd been drinking. Roxy wasn't holding a grudge, though, and told Kyle that he was the gay son she'd never had. My mind immediately came up with a dozen wry comments that Kyle could make about Rex, so when he said "Really?" in a kind of sarcastic way, I actually wondered for a second if he was about to go there!
He didn't, of course. Instead Kyle asked Roxy how his straight 'brother' Rex was doing, and turned the conversation to Roxy's past with Mitch Lawrence. He just couldn't quite wrap his mind around why Roxy had ever been with someone as evil and as crazy as Mitch. Roxy went off about how even touching Mitch, aka 'Satan's wing man', meant putting your soul in hock and told Kyle to stop pushing her about it.
Kyle said that Roxy was one of the best friends he'd ever had, that he knew there was more going on that she'd been able to tell anyone about, and that he was there for her if she needed to talk. Roxy told him that if he really was her friend, he'd never mention Rex's father again.
I know I've already said this about three dozen times, but I love Kyle and Roxy's friendship. When she barged into their room, I thought Fish was going to have a problem with it since he was so uptight about their privacy as a couple before this, but I think Roxy may have won him over. Either that, or he was just too high on the afterglow to really care!
That was all for today. Fish's cop scenes involved him standing in the background (next to Brody, I might add; are they ever going to fulfill my dream and make these two partners?) during the Mitch scenes.
Going back to the subject of Nick, I've been trying to imagine who they could pair him up with if they kept him around, since everyone else on the show is pretty well established as heterosexual. Sure, the very hot Ford just returned to town and we don't really know anything about him yet. He'd be perfect, in fact, if he wasn't so clearly designated to be part of a love triangle with Langston and Markko.
There don't seem to be many other options at the moment, though of course any male character who has been written as straight up to this point could turn out to be bi or just in denial like Fish was. I don't see that happening, though, since they've already told that story with Oliver.
Today I think I finally found the perfect candidate for Nick's new love interest: Dorian's new political aide! I don't think he even has a name yet, but he's very cute. It would make perfect sense that Nick, as a political activist, would come into contact with the Mayor's right hand man. This show is so good at starting new characters out in smaller roles and then building them up into something bigger, so it could really work. Chances are he'll turn out to be one of Mitch's followers instead, but I hope not.
Whatever happens with Nick, Kyle and Fish are completely amazing and I can't wait to see what is in store for them this year. Whether they're in incredible love scenes, smoking hot argument scenes, or just being adorable together like they were today, they're the hottest thing on TV.
The two shared some amusing and completely endearing pillow talk about being boyfriends before Roxy suddenly burst in without knocking. After calling them gorgeous hunks and making a joke, complete with simulated porn music, about her fantasy of playing the sexy pizza delivery girl to them (!), Roxy joined them on the bed and delivered the morning paper, full of the bad news that Dorian had fired Oliver's boss the night before.
When we next saw the guys they'd managed to put their shirts back on, sadly enough, but were still apparently wearing nothing else underneath the sheets. Roxy didn't seem to mind, though, and plopped right down between them on the bed, giving them each a kiss on the cheek and telling them how happy she was for the two of them. It was really sweet.
At that point, Fish got a phone call from John McBain and told Kyle and Roxy that he had to go help transport Mitch Lawrence back to jail. Roxy freaked out and urged Fish to make sure that Mitch stayed in jail.
Kyle and Oliver said a very cute goodbye at the door and once Roxy and Kyle were alone she pressed him for all the details. Kyle was a perfect gentleman, though, so Roxy asked what had happened with Nick.
Kyle explained that Nick had moved out and that he'd been the one who Roxy had talked to on the phone. Kyle apologized for not believing Roxy and for implying that she'd been drinking. Roxy wasn't holding a grudge, though, and told Kyle that he was the gay son she'd never had. My mind immediately came up with a dozen wry comments that Kyle could make about Rex, so when he said "Really?" in a kind of sarcastic way, I actually wondered for a second if he was about to go there!
He didn't, of course. Instead Kyle asked Roxy how his straight 'brother' Rex was doing, and turned the conversation to Roxy's past with Mitch Lawrence. He just couldn't quite wrap his mind around why Roxy had ever been with someone as evil and as crazy as Mitch. Roxy went off about how even touching Mitch, aka 'Satan's wing man', meant putting your soul in hock and told Kyle to stop pushing her about it.
Kyle said that Roxy was one of the best friends he'd ever had, that he knew there was more going on that she'd been able to tell anyone about, and that he was there for her if she needed to talk. Roxy told him that if he really was her friend, he'd never mention Rex's father again.
I know I've already said this about three dozen times, but I love Kyle and Roxy's friendship. When she barged into their room, I thought Fish was going to have a problem with it since he was so uptight about their privacy as a couple before this, but I think Roxy may have won him over. Either that, or he was just too high on the afterglow to really care!
That was all for today. Fish's cop scenes involved him standing in the background (next to Brody, I might add; are they ever going to fulfill my dream and make these two partners?) during the Mitch scenes.
Going back to the subject of Nick, I've been trying to imagine who they could pair him up with if they kept him around, since everyone else on the show is pretty well established as heterosexual. Sure, the very hot Ford just returned to town and we don't really know anything about him yet. He'd be perfect, in fact, if he wasn't so clearly designated to be part of a love triangle with Langston and Markko.
There don't seem to be many other options at the moment, though of course any male character who has been written as straight up to this point could turn out to be bi or just in denial like Fish was. I don't see that happening, though, since they've already told that story with Oliver.
Today I think I finally found the perfect candidate for Nick's new love interest: Dorian's new political aide! I don't think he even has a name yet, but he's very cute. It would make perfect sense that Nick, as a political activist, would come into contact with the Mayor's right hand man. This show is so good at starting new characters out in smaller roles and then building them up into something bigger, so it could really work. Chances are he'll turn out to be one of Mitch's followers instead, but I hope not.
Whatever happens with Nick, Kyle and Fish are completely amazing and I can't wait to see what is in store for them this year. Whether they're in incredible love scenes, smoking hot argument scenes, or just being adorable together like they were today, they're the hottest thing on TV.
Friday, January 01, 2010
A Great Start
Starting today, LGBT citizens of New Hampshire are enjoying marriage equality under the new law passed last year. Many chose to ring in the New Year with wedding ceremonies just after midnight last night.
I can't think of a better way to begin a brand new year and I hope that it is a sign that in the next twelve months more and more LGBT citizens all over the country will be victorious in the fight for our civil rights.
I can't think of a better way to begin a brand new year and I hope that it is a sign that in the next twelve months more and more LGBT citizens all over the country will be victorious in the fight for our civil rights.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
2009 in Retrospect
What a year 2009 has been. The first African American President of the United States was sworn in, the first Hispanic Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed, and three states and Washington D.C. decided to stop denying same sex couples their right to marry.
There were losses too, of course. Marriage equality suffered setbacks in California, New York and Maine and President Obama failed to live up to his campaign promises on the Defense of Marriage Act and on Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
Adam Lambert, Jonathan Groff, Gavin Creel, Meredith Baxter, Kelly McGillis, and Wesley Eure all came out of the closet publicly this year, while Scott Evans was outed by his own brother Chris in The Advocate, not that he minded. Chris Colfer of Glee began his career this year as an openly gay actor. Am I forgetting anyone else?
We lost some amazing talent this year, from Bea Arthur to Natasha Richardson and John Updike to John Hughes, and an era ended in the United States Senate with the death of Ted Kennedy.
It was the year that was bookended by gay love scenes on soaps. In January, Nuke finally got to make love on As the World Turns after countless delays and while it was very exciting at the time, it still wasn't all it should have been as a payoff for fans of the couple. At the end of December,Kish fans were treated to the most incredible love scene between two men ever shown on American television, showing what a difference a year (and a different network, production company, and head writer!) can make.
Yes, it has been quite a year. Here are my picks for some of my favorite things of the year:
Favorite Classic Fiction Book I read this year: Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Favorite Modern Fiction Book I read this year: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.
Favorite Non-Fiction (History) Book I read this year: And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts.
Favorite Non-Fiction (Literary) Book I read this year: A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel.
Favorite Short Story Collection I read this year: All five of Ethan Mordden's books in his Buddies series.
Favorite Film I saw this year: Adventureland
Favorite Gay themed film I saw this year: tie Make the Yuletide Gay and Were the World Mine
Favorite Hour long TV Show: Glee!
Favorite Half Hour long TV Show: How I Met Your Mother
Best Daytime Soap: One Life to Live
Favorite CD: Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment
New Guilty Pleasure Addiction of the year: American Idol Season 8 thanks to Adam Lambert
Favorite Gay Website of the year: AfterElton.com
Favorite Gay Character of the year (Daytime): Oliver Fish, One Life to Live
Favorite Gay Character of the year (Primetime): Kurt Hummel, Glee
Hottest Actor (Daytime): Scott Evans
Hottest Actor (Primetime): Jared Padalecki
Hottest Actor (Film): Ryan Reynolds
Hottest Athlete: Andy Roddick
Favorite Actress (Primetime): Kristin Chenoweth
Favorite Actress (Daytime): tie Erika Slezak, Florencia Lozano, Hillary B. Smith, Susan Haskell, and Robin Strasser, all of One Life to Live.
Best Day of the Year: The day I saw Rent performed live with Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal!
I hope 2010 is a wonderful year for all of you!
There were losses too, of course. Marriage equality suffered setbacks in California, New York and Maine and President Obama failed to live up to his campaign promises on the Defense of Marriage Act and on Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
Adam Lambert, Jonathan Groff, Gavin Creel, Meredith Baxter, Kelly McGillis, and Wesley Eure all came out of the closet publicly this year, while Scott Evans was outed by his own brother Chris in The Advocate, not that he minded. Chris Colfer of Glee began his career this year as an openly gay actor. Am I forgetting anyone else?
We lost some amazing talent this year, from Bea Arthur to Natasha Richardson and John Updike to John Hughes, and an era ended in the United States Senate with the death of Ted Kennedy.
It was the year that was bookended by gay love scenes on soaps. In January, Nuke finally got to make love on As the World Turns after countless delays and while it was very exciting at the time, it still wasn't all it should have been as a payoff for fans of the couple. At the end of December,Kish fans were treated to the most incredible love scene between two men ever shown on American television, showing what a difference a year (and a different network, production company, and head writer!) can make.
Yes, it has been quite a year. Here are my picks for some of my favorite things of the year:
Favorite Classic Fiction Book I read this year: Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Favorite Modern Fiction Book I read this year: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.
Favorite Non-Fiction (History) Book I read this year: And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts.
Favorite Non-Fiction (Literary) Book I read this year: A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel.
Favorite Short Story Collection I read this year: All five of Ethan Mordden's books in his Buddies series.
Favorite Film I saw this year: Adventureland
Favorite Gay themed film I saw this year: tie Make the Yuletide Gay and Were the World Mine
Favorite Hour long TV Show: Glee!
Favorite Half Hour long TV Show: How I Met Your Mother
Best Daytime Soap: One Life to Live
Favorite CD: Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment
New Guilty Pleasure Addiction of the year: American Idol Season 8 thanks to Adam Lambert
Favorite Gay Website of the year: AfterElton.com
Favorite Gay Character of the year (Daytime): Oliver Fish, One Life to Live
Favorite Gay Character of the year (Primetime): Kurt Hummel, Glee
Hottest Actor (Daytime): Scott Evans
Hottest Actor (Primetime): Jared Padalecki
Hottest Actor (Film): Ryan Reynolds
Hottest Athlete: Andy Roddick
Favorite Actress (Primetime): Kristin Chenoweth
Favorite Actress (Daytime): tie Erika Slezak, Florencia Lozano, Hillary B. Smith, Susan Haskell, and Robin Strasser, all of One Life to Live.
Best Day of the Year: The day I saw Rent performed live with Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal!
I hope 2010 is a wonderful year for all of you!
Fantastic Scott Evans Interview
We Love The Soaps TV has a fantastic interview with Scott Evans that you have to watch if you're a fan of Scott or of Kish. Fair warning, though, you'll probably fall in love before it's over!
I'm a huge fan of Scott, obviously, and it was interesting to see him just being himself, rather than playing a role. His voice is a slightly different from when he's playing Fish, and he really talks with his hands a lot, which I thought was very cute. Most of all, though, he just seems like such a funny, down to Earth guy, and a very nice one at that.
He talks a lot about the show and about being viewed as a gay role model. Check it out!
I'm a huge fan of Scott, obviously, and it was interesting to see him just being himself, rather than playing a role. His voice is a slightly different from when he's playing Fish, and he really talks with his hands a lot, which I thought was very cute. Most of all, though, he just seems like such a funny, down to Earth guy, and a very nice one at that.
He talks a lot about the show and about being viewed as a gay role model. Check it out!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Year End Lists
I'm a sucker for all of the year end lists that take a reflective look back on the past twelve months, so I thought I'd share some links with you.
First up, the critics at The New Yorker.
Anthony Lane, Richard Brody, and David Denby each took a look back at the best films of the year. Among his top ten, Denby selected Adventureland, a film that I really loved and meant to write about when I first saw it, but which I somehow never managed to get around to mentioning!
Last year, I seem to recall that I'd only seen one of the films picked by these guys, so I'm doing better this time around since I also saw Up, another of Denby's selections, and Star Trek, which Lane mentions.
Nancy Franklin has a look back at the year in TV. While discussing everything from President Obama's inaguration to Tom Delay on Dancing With the Stars, Franklin also mentions the over the top reaction to Adam Lambert's AMA performance:
James Wood covers the year in books, none of which I've read. But then, I don't tend to read all that many books the year they come out. I think the only books I've read in 2009 that actually came out this year were Judy Shepard's moving book, The Meaning of Matthew and The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's follow up to Shadow of the Wind. The latter only counts as a 2009 book in its English translation, of course.
Hilton Als has a look at the year's best in theatre and Claudia Roth Pierpoint has a list of the top ten cultural events of the year, which includes a range of things from short story collections to ballet performances.
There is a comprehensive list of all the year end picks in many other categories if you'd like to check that out.
Playbill has a list of the Top Theatre Stories of the year as well as a look back on the Broadway stars who left us this year.
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello picks his Best Of in Television for the year, including Glee's Jane Lynch as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. Ken Tucker made his picks for the ten best shows on TV this year (Glee was at number 9, while Modern Family was at number 3) and also the five worst shows.
Roger Ebert picks the year's best films, and once again I've seen none of them! What was I doing all year?
If you're a soap fan, Daytime Confidential has their picks of this years 10 Best Soap Couples (with LGBT couples leading the pack, Kish at number 2 and Guiding Light's Otalia at number 1) and 10 Worst Soap Couples. Semi-LGBT couple Rafe and Adam from The Young and the Restless made this list as the number 1 worst soap couple of the year.
Michael Fairman picked the year's 20 Worst Soap Moments and they included several LGBT related stories. Coming in as the number one worst soap moment of the year? The Z Twins on As the World Turns. Also making the list was the much bemoaned Bianca and Reese storyline on All My Children and the badly executed Rafe and Adam storyline on The Young and the Restless. Y&R also made the list for the botched return of Philip Chancellor III.
Fairman also picked the 20 Best Soap Moments, of course. Number 2 on that list was Olivia confessing her love to Natalia on Guiding Light, while Kyle telling Fish he loved him at the gay group wedding on One Life to Live made number 12. Philip's initial return and revelation that he was gay on The Young and the Restless made number 17 on Fairman's best of list, even though the subsequent story made the Worst of list.
That's probably enough list-mania for now!
First up, the critics at The New Yorker.
Anthony Lane, Richard Brody, and David Denby each took a look back at the best films of the year. Among his top ten, Denby selected Adventureland, a film that I really loved and meant to write about when I first saw it, but which I somehow never managed to get around to mentioning!
Last year, I seem to recall that I'd only seen one of the films picked by these guys, so I'm doing better this time around since I also saw Up, another of Denby's selections, and Star Trek, which Lane mentions.
Nancy Franklin has a look back at the year in TV. While discussing everything from President Obama's inaguration to Tom Delay on Dancing With the Stars, Franklin also mentions the over the top reaction to Adam Lambert's AMA performance:
The “American Idol” runner-up, not the first gay contestant but the first to “do” anything gay, performed on the American Music Awards, on ABC, and went a little over the top, kissing a male dancer and mimicking oral sex. Then, on CBS’s “Early Show,” a replay of the kiss was fuzzed out (as was the oral-sex bit), as if this were 1909 and not 2009. Then ABC disinvited Lambert from Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show (sorry if I’m laughing at the idea that Kimmel’s show upholds any standard other than mediocrity) and “Good Morning America,” and a tentative booking on “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” was scotched. No one knows exactly where the line is anymore when it comes to what you can say and show on TV, but, wherever it is, it’s already been a crossed many times in recent years by headline-hungry heterosexuals acting in terrible taste. There’s a word for CBS’s and ABC’s hot-potato treatment of Lambert, and it’s either “hypocrisy” or “homophobia.”
James Wood covers the year in books, none of which I've read. But then, I don't tend to read all that many books the year they come out. I think the only books I've read in 2009 that actually came out this year were Judy Shepard's moving book, The Meaning of Matthew and The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's follow up to Shadow of the Wind. The latter only counts as a 2009 book in its English translation, of course.
Hilton Als has a look at the year's best in theatre and Claudia Roth Pierpoint has a list of the top ten cultural events of the year, which includes a range of things from short story collections to ballet performances.
There is a comprehensive list of all the year end picks in many other categories if you'd like to check that out.
Playbill has a list of the Top Theatre Stories of the year as well as a look back on the Broadway stars who left us this year.
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello picks his Best Of in Television for the year, including Glee's Jane Lynch as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. Ken Tucker made his picks for the ten best shows on TV this year (Glee was at number 9, while Modern Family was at number 3) and also the five worst shows.
Roger Ebert picks the year's best films, and once again I've seen none of them! What was I doing all year?
If you're a soap fan, Daytime Confidential has their picks of this years 10 Best Soap Couples (with LGBT couples leading the pack, Kish at number 2 and Guiding Light's Otalia at number 1) and 10 Worst Soap Couples. Semi-LGBT couple Rafe and Adam from The Young and the Restless made this list as the number 1 worst soap couple of the year.
Michael Fairman picked the year's 20 Worst Soap Moments and they included several LGBT related stories. Coming in as the number one worst soap moment of the year? The Z Twins on As the World Turns. Also making the list was the much bemoaned Bianca and Reese storyline on All My Children and the badly executed Rafe and Adam storyline on The Young and the Restless. Y&R also made the list for the botched return of Philip Chancellor III.
Fairman also picked the 20 Best Soap Moments, of course. Number 2 on that list was Olivia confessing her love to Natalia on Guiding Light, while Kyle telling Fish he loved him at the gay group wedding on One Life to Live made number 12. Philip's initial return and revelation that he was gay on The Young and the Restless made number 17 on Fairman's best of list, even though the subsequent story made the Worst of list.
That's probably enough list-mania for now!
Kish: Simply Beautiful
I'm in a state of bliss. That's the only way I can describe my feelings after watching today's Kish scenes. They were beautiful. There are a selection of pictures from the episode scattered throughout this post, all borrowed from Superherofan, but they are only a small sample of what he's got, so check out his complete post on today's show, which also includes a video of the scenes.
History was made today on One Life to Live. For the first time on daytime television (and I think quite possibly on Network television in general) two gay characters had a full fledged love scene that was treated exactly like any mixed gender love scene. There was kissing, caressing, sensual undressing of each other, and they were shown in bed together both before they made love and immediately afterward, in the afterglow.
Before I get too ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning. The Kish scenes opened with Oliver and Stacy at Ultra Violet, where she was afraid he might have overhead her talking to herself about how Rex isn't really the father of her baby (a common soap habit, muttering your darkest secrets out loud in public places). He hadn't, of course, but that still didn't stop Stacy from saying out loud three seconds later that if Fish found out he was the baby's father she'd be sunk.
Rex saw Fish and assured him that he'd set up the special seats for Oliver and 'his guy'. Fish glumly told Rex to give the seats to someone else, since Kyle had made other plans. Rex asked if Kyle was called in to the hospital and Fish told him no, that Kyle had chosen to be with someone else. Rex commiserated, since his own love interest was off in the mountains having sex with Schuyler at that very moment, and offered Fish free drinks. Fish declined, saying that the last time he'd been that upset he'd had too much to drink and done something very stupid.
Did anyone else think that if Fish had said yes to the drinks he'd have ended up drunkenly making out with Rex in his office at Ultra Violet? No? Okay, just me. But imagine how Stacy's head would have exploded if she'd walked in on that!
Meanwhile, back at Kyle's motel room, Kyle and Nick were still in the midst of a kiss. Unlike yesterday, when it looked like Kyle was pretty much going for it right along with Nick, today he pulled back from the kiss pretty quickly and asked what Nick was doing.
Nick asked what it looked like he was doing and Kyle angrily reminded him that he was with Oliver now. Nick pointed out that Fish wasn't there and told Kyle that the two of them had something really good together.
Then, along came Kish. Not only has their story been incredibly well written, but they've been treated with complete equality as characters from the very beginning right up to today, when the guys made love for the very first time. It's truly incredible and ABC deserves a lot of credit for finally allowing a show to tell a gay love story as if it were any other story.
Of course, there would be no Kish without Scott Evans and Brett Claywell, who both continue to do an amazing job making us care about these characters and who are both very committed to telling this incredible love story.
Let's not forget Ron Carlivati, either! He's the incredibly talented head writer who has not only given us the awesomeness that is Kish but also the best written soap on the air. I think I love you, Mr. Carlivati.
What a way to ring in the New Year. I hope 2010 brings even more amazing story for the best gay couple on TV.
History was made today on One Life to Live. For the first time on daytime television (and I think quite possibly on Network television in general) two gay characters had a full fledged love scene that was treated exactly like any mixed gender love scene. There was kissing, caressing, sensual undressing of each other, and they were shown in bed together both before they made love and immediately afterward, in the afterglow.
Before I get too ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning. The Kish scenes opened with Oliver and Stacy at Ultra Violet, where she was afraid he might have overhead her talking to herself about how Rex isn't really the father of her baby (a common soap habit, muttering your darkest secrets out loud in public places). He hadn't, of course, but that still didn't stop Stacy from saying out loud three seconds later that if Fish found out he was the baby's father she'd be sunk.
Rex saw Fish and assured him that he'd set up the special seats for Oliver and 'his guy'. Fish glumly told Rex to give the seats to someone else, since Kyle had made other plans. Rex asked if Kyle was called in to the hospital and Fish told him no, that Kyle had chosen to be with someone else. Rex commiserated, since his own love interest was off in the mountains having sex with Schuyler at that very moment, and offered Fish free drinks. Fish declined, saying that the last time he'd been that upset he'd had too much to drink and done something very stupid.
Did anyone else think that if Fish had said yes to the drinks he'd have ended up drunkenly making out with Rex in his office at Ultra Violet? No? Okay, just me. But imagine how Stacy's head would have exploded if she'd walked in on that!
Meanwhile, back at Kyle's motel room, Kyle and Nick were still in the midst of a kiss. Unlike yesterday, when it looked like Kyle was pretty much going for it right along with Nick, today he pulled back from the kiss pretty quickly and asked what Nick was doing.
Nick asked what it looked like he was doing and Kyle angrily reminded him that he was with Oliver now. Nick pointed out that Fish wasn't there and told Kyle that the two of them had something really good together.
Kyle: We've been over this, Nick. Okay? I'm in a relationship with Oliver. I love him.
Nick: You love him. What I'm saying is that you can have me. Oliver doesn't have to know.
Nick: You love him. What I'm saying is that you can have me. Oliver doesn't have to know.
Oh, wow. Poor Nick. The way Nicholas Rodriguez delivered that line just made me feel so much pity for Nick. I mean, he's essentially telling the love of his life that it's okay for him to love another guy and just sleep with him on the side, to just use him. Ouch.
Kyle asked if Oliver had been right about Nick, if he'd been lying to him all along. Nick instantly denied this, but I loved that from this point on, during all the denials, he had trouble looking Kyle in the eye and mostly had his back to him. This is one character who knows that what he's been doing was wrong and feels terrible about it. It makes him very human and really endears him to me.
Nick insisted that he hadn't known about the other room and then suggested that he and Kyle forget that all of this had happened, saying that things had just become so stirred up for him and that Kyle had been so good to him ever since he was bashed. Then he made the mistake of saying that if Kyle wanted him to move to 'that guy Joplin's old room', he would.
Kyle pointed out that Roxy had never told them that it was Schuyler's room that was available and Nick was caught out in his lie. Kyle demanded to know what else Nick had been lying about and asked if he'd lied about not being able to stay with Amelia. Nick swore he hadn't, but exposed that lie as well when he grabbed Kyle's phone away after he'd called Amelia to find out for sure.
What came next eased all the worries I had about the direction they'd taken Nick in. So many soaps would have made him a one note character, but OLTL wrote a completely understandable, realistic reason for him to be acting so out of character and Nicholas Rodriguez delivered these lines in such a heartbreaking way that by the end of the scene, Nick was completely redeemed in my eyes and Kyle's as well.
I'm all about Kish, of course, but my heart was breaking for Nick in this scene and Nicholas Rodriguez made me cry. I really, really hope that this won't be the last we see of Nick. I want him to stick around and find someone of his own to love!
Nick assured Kyle that he'd been nothing but great and Kyle said that he hadn't been that great to Oliver. Nick told him to go and find Fish and that he'd be gone when Kyle got back, that he'd either move to Schuyler's empty room or call Amelia.
Kyle headed to Ultra Violet, where Rex told him that Fish had already left. A little later, Fish returned to the club to retrieve his forgotten cell phone and ran into Kyle, who told him that the 14 missed calls on the phone were all from him and that they all said the same thing: that Kyle is sorry and that Fish was right about Nick. Kyle said that he'd been naive and a complete jerk and asked if Oliver could forgive him, saying that Fish was it for him, that he was the one. Awww!
Oliver said that he really hadn't wanted to be apart from Kyle when the clock struck midnight and asked his boyfriend to buy him a drink. Kyle had a better idea, though, and lead Fish out of the club and back to the now Nick-free motel room, where Roxy had supplied a bottle of champagne for her favorite gay couple.
The two lit candles and, as their beautiful song started playing again (My Confession by Rie Sinclair and Friends; it's an exclusive song written for Kish and is available on iTunes), the two did all that I wrote about up above: touching, kissing, undressing each other, finally ending up on the bed, where they stared into each other's eyes and were clearly ready for the big moment.
Later, as they lay side by side in the afterglow, there were literally fireworks going off outside the window over their heads as people rang in the new year. Oliver asked Kyle if it was always going to be like that and Kyle promised that it always would. The two moved into spooning position with Fish's arm around Kyle, who brought his boyfriend's hand up to his mouth to kiss it before they drifted off to sleep, both smiling.
Can you imagine a better first time? It was perfection. These scenes were so incredibly beautiful and well done. They completely exceeded any expectations I'd ever had.
After seeing the lengths that CBS and Proctor & Gamble went to for so long to keep Luke & Noah from even kissing, let alone finally making love (which happened almost entirely off camera, of course), I'd begun to wonder if we'd have to wait another decade before we finally got gay characters who were treated equally on a soap when it came to romance.
Kyle asked if Oliver had been right about Nick, if he'd been lying to him all along. Nick instantly denied this, but I loved that from this point on, during all the denials, he had trouble looking Kyle in the eye and mostly had his back to him. This is one character who knows that what he's been doing was wrong and feels terrible about it. It makes him very human and really endears him to me.
Nick insisted that he hadn't known about the other room and then suggested that he and Kyle forget that all of this had happened, saying that things had just become so stirred up for him and that Kyle had been so good to him ever since he was bashed. Then he made the mistake of saying that if Kyle wanted him to move to 'that guy Joplin's old room', he would.
Kyle pointed out that Roxy had never told them that it was Schuyler's room that was available and Nick was caught out in his lie. Kyle demanded to know what else Nick had been lying about and asked if he'd lied about not being able to stay with Amelia. Nick swore he hadn't, but exposed that lie as well when he grabbed Kyle's phone away after he'd called Amelia to find out for sure.
What came next eased all the worries I had about the direction they'd taken Nick in. So many soaps would have made him a one note character, but OLTL wrote a completely understandable, realistic reason for him to be acting so out of character and Nicholas Rodriguez delivered these lines in such a heartbreaking way that by the end of the scene, Nick was completely redeemed in my eyes and Kyle's as well.
Kyle: I trusted you! I defended you! I let you in my home!
Nick (crying): Because I freaked out! Because one minute, I had this terrific guy and the next minute I'm alone, in the back alley of some bar, getting beaten by thugs for being gay. And I was so scared, Kyle. I was lying there, thinking 'I don't want to die alone'. And then you showed up to the hospital and you were so great that all of a sudden 'I don't want to die alone' turned into 'I don't want to live alone'. I don't want to go to sleep alone, I don't want to wake up alone, I don't want to do all the things that... I convinced myself that I couldn't be alone. And you were there, this guy that I love and I trust. It was like I didn't have to be alone. And I just didn't count on how much you love Oliver. I'm so sorry, Kyle.
Kyle (starting to cry): I'm sorry, too. I should have made it more clear.
Nick (crying): Because I freaked out! Because one minute, I had this terrific guy and the next minute I'm alone, in the back alley of some bar, getting beaten by thugs for being gay. And I was so scared, Kyle. I was lying there, thinking 'I don't want to die alone'. And then you showed up to the hospital and you were so great that all of a sudden 'I don't want to die alone' turned into 'I don't want to live alone'. I don't want to go to sleep alone, I don't want to wake up alone, I don't want to do all the things that... I convinced myself that I couldn't be alone. And you were there, this guy that I love and I trust. It was like I didn't have to be alone. And I just didn't count on how much you love Oliver. I'm so sorry, Kyle.
Kyle (starting to cry): I'm sorry, too. I should have made it more clear.
I'm all about Kish, of course, but my heart was breaking for Nick in this scene and Nicholas Rodriguez made me cry. I really, really hope that this won't be the last we see of Nick. I want him to stick around and find someone of his own to love!
Nick assured Kyle that he'd been nothing but great and Kyle said that he hadn't been that great to Oliver. Nick told him to go and find Fish and that he'd be gone when Kyle got back, that he'd either move to Schuyler's empty room or call Amelia.
Kyle headed to Ultra Violet, where Rex told him that Fish had already left. A little later, Fish returned to the club to retrieve his forgotten cell phone and ran into Kyle, who told him that the 14 missed calls on the phone were all from him and that they all said the same thing: that Kyle is sorry and that Fish was right about Nick. Kyle said that he'd been naive and a complete jerk and asked if Oliver could forgive him, saying that Fish was it for him, that he was the one. Awww!
Oliver said that he really hadn't wanted to be apart from Kyle when the clock struck midnight and asked his boyfriend to buy him a drink. Kyle had a better idea, though, and lead Fish out of the club and back to the now Nick-free motel room, where Roxy had supplied a bottle of champagne for her favorite gay couple.
The two lit candles and, as their beautiful song started playing again (My Confession by Rie Sinclair and Friends; it's an exclusive song written for Kish and is available on iTunes), the two did all that I wrote about up above: touching, kissing, undressing each other, finally ending up on the bed, where they stared into each other's eyes and were clearly ready for the big moment.
Later, as they lay side by side in the afterglow, there were literally fireworks going off outside the window over their heads as people rang in the new year. Oliver asked Kyle if it was always going to be like that and Kyle promised that it always would. The two moved into spooning position with Fish's arm around Kyle, who brought his boyfriend's hand up to his mouth to kiss it before they drifted off to sleep, both smiling.
Can you imagine a better first time? It was perfection. These scenes were so incredibly beautiful and well done. They completely exceeded any expectations I'd ever had.
After seeing the lengths that CBS and Proctor & Gamble went to for so long to keep Luke & Noah from even kissing, let alone finally making love (which happened almost entirely off camera, of course), I'd begun to wonder if we'd have to wait another decade before we finally got gay characters who were treated equally on a soap when it came to romance.
Then, along came Kish. Not only has their story been incredibly well written, but they've been treated with complete equality as characters from the very beginning right up to today, when the guys made love for the very first time. It's truly incredible and ABC deserves a lot of credit for finally allowing a show to tell a gay love story as if it were any other story.
Of course, there would be no Kish without Scott Evans and Brett Claywell, who both continue to do an amazing job making us care about these characters and who are both very committed to telling this incredible love story.
Let's not forget Ron Carlivati, either! He's the incredibly talented head writer who has not only given us the awesomeness that is Kish but also the best written soap on the air. I think I love you, Mr. Carlivati.
What a way to ring in the New Year. I hope 2010 brings even more amazing story for the best gay couple on TV.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Kish: First Fight
New Year's Eve has arrived a bit early in Llanview. Today's Kish scenes opened with Oliver waiting in Kyle's room for their big date, looking a bit uncomfortable while Nick lay in the bed, listening to his iPod and ignoring Fish. At first I thought Nick was glaring at Fish, but when I looked closer I realized that he actually had an expression of fear mixed with misery on his face.
The reason for the terror was explained when Kyle came out of the bathroom and told Fish that Nick had received word that his attackers' trial date had been moved up and Nick would have to testify in a few days.
Because of this, Kyle told Oliver that he couldn't leave Nick alone while they went out to celebrate the new year. Fish said that they'd only be gone for a few hours and pointed out that every time they'd tried to be alone over the past few days, Nick had needed Kyle. As the two started to talk, Nick surreptitiously turned down his music so that he could listen in.
Kyle asked what Fish meant and Oliver wondered if it had occurred to Kyle that Nick might be doing it on purpose. Kyle reminded Fish that Nick had nearly been beaten to death but before they could discuss this any further, Roxy showed up.
When Roxy spotted Nick in Kyle's bed she demanded to know what he was doing there and reminded Kyle that she'd told him on the phone that there was an empty room. Kyle, who naturally had no recollection of the conversation Roxy thought they'd had, wondered if Roxy had been overindulging in drink. Roxy told him to go ahead and play dumb, but that he shouldn't come crying to her when he screwed things up with Fish.
After she left, Kyle assured Fish that Roxy had never called with such a message. Oliver demonstrated his cop skills by pointing out that it may not have been Kyle who'd answered the phone. Maybe, he suggested, Roxy had delivered the message to Nick instead, thinking she was speaking to Kyle.
Why, Kyle asked, would Nick have not said anything? Oliver declared that it was because Nick wanted to stay there with Kyle and then both of the guys looked over at the bed, where Nick had removed one ear bud and was openly listening to them.
Nick insisted that he hadn't talked to Roxy and Kyle told Fish that as much as he loves her, Roxy's mind isn't exactly a steel trap. Fish seemed to let it go and said that they should probably start packing up Nick's things, since there was a room available.
Kyle asked Oliver if he could speak to him in private and they stepped out into the hallway.
Fish then asked if Kyle really thought that Nick's best friend Amelia would have turned him down for a place to recuperate. Kyle insisted that Dorian had been the one who said no to Nick's request, but Fish said that the new Mayor would have been unlikely to damage her very public pro-gay stance by refusing to house her wife's gay best friend, who'd just been gay bashed.
Clearly, Fish had been putting a lot of thought into this.
Low blow, Kyle! Poor Fish looked like someone had just run over his puppy. He told Kyle that he could have Nick and that he'd be at Ultra Violet if Kyle changed his mind. He looked like he was about to cry as he walked off.
I was left with conflicting emotions. First, Fish is so hot when he gets all worked up! If I were Kyle, I'd probably pick fights with him just to sit back and observe how sexy he was. Secondly, I was a bit ticked off at Kyle for being so naive. I get that he wants to see the best in Nick, who seems to be a really sweet guy outside of this plot, and that he hates what happened to him, but hasn't Kyle been involved in enough scheming on his own to be at least a bit suspicious of other people's motives?
I also liked that while Fish has clearly been suspicious of Nick from the beginning, he was a good enough boyfriend to not say anything before now. It's nice to see characters act with maturity and to know that Oliver trusts Kyle, even when he knows Nick may be up to no good.
Mostly, though, I just wanted to awwww over their very first fight as a couple!
Other than for a moment when he wordlessly ran into Stacy at Ultra Violet, we didn't see Fish again during the episode. Kyle and Nick, however, had one more scene. Kyle had returned to the room and apologized to Nick for Fish's behavior. He helped Nick sit down on the foot of bed and once they were seated, Nick didn't take his arm off Kyle's shoulders, but instead started to rub them, noting that Kyle had a knot that needed working out.
Again, Kyle's sudden naivete reared its head. Even if he was completely without suspicion before, he now knows what Fish has been thinking. Yet, having his ex boyfriend, the man who wanted to marry him less than two months ago, sitting very close and rubbing his shoulders doesn't seem to raise any red flags for him.
The reason for the terror was explained when Kyle came out of the bathroom and told Fish that Nick had received word that his attackers' trial date had been moved up and Nick would have to testify in a few days.
Because of this, Kyle told Oliver that he couldn't leave Nick alone while they went out to celebrate the new year. Fish said that they'd only be gone for a few hours and pointed out that every time they'd tried to be alone over the past few days, Nick had needed Kyle. As the two started to talk, Nick surreptitiously turned down his music so that he could listen in.
Kyle asked what Fish meant and Oliver wondered if it had occurred to Kyle that Nick might be doing it on purpose. Kyle reminded Fish that Nick had nearly been beaten to death but before they could discuss this any further, Roxy showed up.
When Roxy spotted Nick in Kyle's bed she demanded to know what he was doing there and reminded Kyle that she'd told him on the phone that there was an empty room. Kyle, who naturally had no recollection of the conversation Roxy thought they'd had, wondered if Roxy had been overindulging in drink. Roxy told him to go ahead and play dumb, but that he shouldn't come crying to her when he screwed things up with Fish.
After she left, Kyle assured Fish that Roxy had never called with such a message. Oliver demonstrated his cop skills by pointing out that it may not have been Kyle who'd answered the phone. Maybe, he suggested, Roxy had delivered the message to Nick instead, thinking she was speaking to Kyle.
Why, Kyle asked, would Nick have not said anything? Oliver declared that it was because Nick wanted to stay there with Kyle and then both of the guys looked over at the bed, where Nick had removed one ear bud and was openly listening to them.
Nick insisted that he hadn't talked to Roxy and Kyle told Fish that as much as he loves her, Roxy's mind isn't exactly a steel trap. Fish seemed to let it go and said that they should probably start packing up Nick's things, since there was a room available.
Kyle asked Oliver if he could speak to him in private and they stepped out into the hallway.
Kyle: What is with you?!
Fish: He's working you!
Kyle: What?
Fish: He's trying to get you back.
Kyle: Wait, you think Nick did this on purpose?
Fish: Yeah.
Kyle: Okay, so, he decided to stay at my place, lies to Roxy, and pretends to have nightmares just so he can split us up?
Fish: Is that so crazy?
Kyle: Is this what happens when you become a cop, everybody's a liar?
Fish: Oh, shut up, Kyle!
Fish: He's working you!
Kyle: What?
Fish: He's trying to get you back.
Kyle: Wait, you think Nick did this on purpose?
Fish: Yeah.
Kyle: Okay, so, he decided to stay at my place, lies to Roxy, and pretends to have nightmares just so he can split us up?
Fish: Is that so crazy?
Kyle: Is this what happens when you become a cop, everybody's a liar?
Fish: Oh, shut up, Kyle!
Fish then asked if Kyle really thought that Nick's best friend Amelia would have turned him down for a place to recuperate. Kyle insisted that Dorian had been the one who said no to Nick's request, but Fish said that the new Mayor would have been unlikely to damage her very public pro-gay stance by refusing to house her wife's gay best friend, who'd just been gay bashed.
Clearly, Fish had been putting a lot of thought into this.
Kyle: So what are you saying?
Fish: I don't think Nick ever called Amelia.
Kyle: Yes he did! I was standing right beside him when he did it.
Fish (sarcastically): Okay, okay.
Kyle: No, it's not okay! I get that you're jealous, but if you remember I never ever would have got with Nick in the first place if you hadn't been so afraid to come out of the closet!
Fish: I don't think Nick ever called Amelia.
Kyle: Yes he did! I was standing right beside him when he did it.
Fish (sarcastically): Okay, okay.
Kyle: No, it's not okay! I get that you're jealous, but if you remember I never ever would have got with Nick in the first place if you hadn't been so afraid to come out of the closet!
Low blow, Kyle! Poor Fish looked like someone had just run over his puppy. He told Kyle that he could have Nick and that he'd be at Ultra Violet if Kyle changed his mind. He looked like he was about to cry as he walked off.
I was left with conflicting emotions. First, Fish is so hot when he gets all worked up! If I were Kyle, I'd probably pick fights with him just to sit back and observe how sexy he was. Secondly, I was a bit ticked off at Kyle for being so naive. I get that he wants to see the best in Nick, who seems to be a really sweet guy outside of this plot, and that he hates what happened to him, but hasn't Kyle been involved in enough scheming on his own to be at least a bit suspicious of other people's motives?
I also liked that while Fish has clearly been suspicious of Nick from the beginning, he was a good enough boyfriend to not say anything before now. It's nice to see characters act with maturity and to know that Oliver trusts Kyle, even when he knows Nick may be up to no good.
Mostly, though, I just wanted to awwww over their very first fight as a couple!
Other than for a moment when he wordlessly ran into Stacy at Ultra Violet, we didn't see Fish again during the episode. Kyle and Nick, however, had one more scene. Kyle had returned to the room and apologized to Nick for Fish's behavior. He helped Nick sit down on the foot of bed and once they were seated, Nick didn't take his arm off Kyle's shoulders, but instead started to rub them, noting that Kyle had a knot that needed working out.
Again, Kyle's sudden naivete reared its head. Even if he was completely without suspicion before, he now knows what Fish has been thinking. Yet, having his ex boyfriend, the man who wanted to marry him less than two months ago, sitting very close and rubbing his shoulders doesn't seem to raise any red flags for him.
Kyle: Hell of a New Year's this turned out to be, huh?
Nick (looking at Kyle with a very lovesick expression): Hey, it's not over yet.
Nick (looking at Kyle with a very lovesick expression): Hey, it's not over yet.
At that point, Nick moved in for a kiss that was telegraphed well in advance but which Kyle did nothing to halt either before or after their lips met.
That's where we left them today. I feel really sorry for Nick, but I'm glad that he's made his intentions clear instead of continuing to plot. I'm still hoping that once things are out in the open, Nick can have a love interest of his own.
Well, Kish have now had their first fight, so I guess the question is, will make up sex come next?
That's where we left them today. I feel really sorry for Nick, but I'm glad that he's made his intentions clear instead of continuing to plot. I'm still hoping that once things are out in the open, Nick can have a love interest of his own.
Well, Kish have now had their first fight, so I guess the question is, will make up sex come next?
Monday, December 28, 2009
The Men Who Made 2009
At the end of 2008, I made a list of some of the hottest guys that I'd become aware of during those twelve months. I can't quite believe an entire year has gone by since then, but it's time once again to ponder which hunks caught my attention the most this year. These are guys who I became aware of either for the first time in 2009 or who began to appeal to me in a whole new way.
If you've been following my blog at all this year, I don't think there will be many surprises in store for you with this list. So, in no particular order, let's take a look at my top five 'new' hunks of 2009! (Many of the pics are borrowed from Superherofan)
Last year, I opened with an actor from One Life to Live (Mark Lawson, who made this year pretty damn hot, too!) so I guess I should continue that tradition. The first guy who came to my attention in a major way this past year is Scott Evans, the openly gay actor who plays the newly out cop Oliver Fish on the show. I have to say that while the Evans boys are both incredibly hot, I'd pick Scott over his brother Chris any day of the week. Here's a look at why:
Not surprisingly, my second pick is also from One Life to Live and happens to be the other half of Kish. Brett Claywell wasn't even on my radar at this time last year, but he's completely won me over with his portrayal of shades of gray Kyle and his onscreen chemistry with Scott.
Moving away from daytime, there was one guy who really came out of nowhere and made me pay a lot of attention this year. In fact, he got me to do something I'd never have believed I'd do: watch almost an entire season of American Idol! It's odd to think that at this time last year I'd never even heard the name Adam Lambert. Today he's one of my favorite singers and definitely a trailblazer as an openly gay musical artist.
My next pick is someone else associated with music and with the Fox network: Glee's Mark Salling. I already thought Matthew Morrison was incredibly sexy before I ever saw the show but the true surprise out of the cast was Mark, who had me drooling over his bad boy character Puck week after week.
Finally, a guy who I was well aware of before this year, but who I came to appreciate in a new way in 2009: Michael Rady. I first saw him towards the end of last year when he began his run on Greek and while I found him to be completely adorkable on that show and really liked him, it wasn't until this fall, when I saw him on the new Melrose Place, that I came to appreciate just how hot he truly is! The last picture isn't from Melrose, sadly, but from Sleeper Cell, where he played a gay character.
There we have it, the men who made 2009. Bring on the men of 2010!
If you've been following my blog at all this year, I don't think there will be many surprises in store for you with this list. So, in no particular order, let's take a look at my top five 'new' hunks of 2009! (Many of the pics are borrowed from Superherofan)
Last year, I opened with an actor from One Life to Live (Mark Lawson, who made this year pretty damn hot, too!) so I guess I should continue that tradition. The first guy who came to my attention in a major way this past year is Scott Evans, the openly gay actor who plays the newly out cop Oliver Fish on the show. I have to say that while the Evans boys are both incredibly hot, I'd pick Scott over his brother Chris any day of the week. Here's a look at why:
Not surprisingly, my second pick is also from One Life to Live and happens to be the other half of Kish. Brett Claywell wasn't even on my radar at this time last year, but he's completely won me over with his portrayal of shades of gray Kyle and his onscreen chemistry with Scott.
Moving away from daytime, there was one guy who really came out of nowhere and made me pay a lot of attention this year. In fact, he got me to do something I'd never have believed I'd do: watch almost an entire season of American Idol! It's odd to think that at this time last year I'd never even heard the name Adam Lambert. Today he's one of my favorite singers and definitely a trailblazer as an openly gay musical artist.
My next pick is someone else associated with music and with the Fox network: Glee's Mark Salling. I already thought Matthew Morrison was incredibly sexy before I ever saw the show but the true surprise out of the cast was Mark, who had me drooling over his bad boy character Puck week after week.
Finally, a guy who I was well aware of before this year, but who I came to appreciate in a new way in 2009: Michael Rady. I first saw him towards the end of last year when he began his run on Greek and while I found him to be completely adorkable on that show and really liked him, it wasn't until this fall, when I saw him on the new Melrose Place, that I came to appreciate just how hot he truly is! The last picture isn't from Melrose, sadly, but from Sleeper Cell, where he played a gay character.
There we have it, the men who made 2009. Bring on the men of 2010!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Kish Song on iTunes
I just got a comment from a reader, Savioy, letting me know that the song that played during Kish's love scene earlier this month (the one they were having before they were interrupted by news of Nick's bashing) is now available on iTunes!
It's called My Confession and is by Rie Sinclair and Friends. I've just bought it myself and it's a really beautiful song that was apparently written just for One Life to Live. I think we'll be hearing it again in the near future in other Kish love scenes.
If you liked the song when you heard it on the show, please consider buying it. It's only 99 cents and is an exclusive song put out by ABC Daytime as Kyle and Fish's song, which means that by purchasing it you're sending a message about how much you love the Kish story!
It's called My Confession and is by Rie Sinclair and Friends. I've just bought it myself and it's a really beautiful song that was apparently written just for One Life to Live. I think we'll be hearing it again in the near future in other Kish love scenes.
If you liked the song when you heard it on the show, please consider buying it. It's only 99 cents and is an exclusive song put out by ABC Daytime as Kyle and Fish's song, which means that by purchasing it you're sending a message about how much you love the Kish story!
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